A Girl's Diary
by Jessb89
Summary: Seventeen year old Sara's family moves to Paris where they will restore and run the old Opera that they just bought. After a couple of days in in the Opera Populaire Sara realizes that her family may not be the only one's living there.
1. Chapter 1

A Girl's Diary

06/20/2007

I know that most girls start their entries with 'Dear Diary' but that seems like a really stupid thing for an 17 year old to say so I'll have to think of something else, I'm not sure what yet. For now I'll just start with today's date.

Today is June 20th 2007. My 17th birthday and my step-dad just gave me this diary, although I prefer to think of it as journal. A book to write in, what a present! Most seventeen year olds get cars but not me, I get a book. Typical, in a family with 8 kids, 2 dogs and a cat.

Well, I guess instead of wasting time and paper I'll start this book off with some stuff about me.

My name is Sara Elizabeth and I was born in Miami, Fl. My mom is of Puerto Rican descent and my father was of Cuban descent, but he died when I was two years old. I have 3 brothers and 1 step-brother, and 2 step-sisters from my mom's most recent marriage. There's Ronnie who is 20, then me, then Niki who's 16, Ricky who's 15, Michael is 13, Jazmine is 12, and Justin is 10. Our cousin Joey also lives with us and he's 21.

My step-father Dave is 20 years retired Navy, but is now in the reserves and still likes to travel so he moves a few years, I'm just hoping that he wont decide to pick up and move again anytime soon.

Aside from the fact that we never have very much money and having to share a room with my two sisters I like our new family. I've always wanted a big family and now I have it. I had to move to a new high school after my mom, brothers and I moved in with Dave. I like it so far I've made a lot of friends being in theater, dance and choir. I also started working backstage this year which I'm really starting to like but that doesn't surprise me cuz I've always liked anything having to do with the theater.

Geez, I've been writing so long I didn't even realize that its almost midnight. I have work tomorrow so I better get to sleep.

I guess this journal thing isn't so bad after all. I still would have liked a car though.

06/25/2007

So, remember how last time I wrote I said that my step dad liked to move around, well he's decided to move again and this time my family is going along, which means I have to go to. Although, I'm not really all that upset about it. It's gonna be pretty cool. We're moving to Paris and my step dad bought an old opera house.

He decided that with such a huge family, he should start a family business and that business is going to own and run an opera house. It's gonna be awesome, we're gonna restore it and then start putting shows on again. There's apartments built in the opera house where we're gonna live and there's even dormitories for the actors, dancers, and singers that we hire. Dave even put all in charge of different departments. We're all gonna be a part of the renovations but once the opera house is restored then Mom and Dave will be in charge of business and financial departments. Niki will be in charge of Marketing. Ronnie, Joey, and Ricky will be in charge of maintenance, Jazmine is gonna be in charge of housekeeping and I'm gonna be in charge of the theater itself; hiring performers, stage hands, musicians, choosing what shows to put on, the building of sets and props; everything will be up to me and I can't wait!

It's a good thing I've been taking French for the past 3 years. Dave even says he's actually gonna pay us all, that way us older kids will have money to help pay for college and the younger ones will be able to start saving.

I've already started getting all the necessary paperwork ready so that as soon as we get to Paris I can apply at The American University of Paris; majoring in Fine Arts and a minor in Business. That way when mom an Dave retire someday I can take over the running of the opera house; hopefully.

07/01/10

Ok, being on a plane for this long SUCKS. We have to take a 5 hour flight from Las Vegas to New York and then another 7 1/2 hour flight from New York to Paris and we don't even have a lay over in New York; nope we're just off one plane and straight onto the other. Who would have known that today would be such a crappy day? We're all in bad moods having to be stuck in these small, cramped uncomfortable seats and we're all sitting apart from each other. On one side of me I have a guy who weights about a million pounds and on the other a lady who's about 100 years old and smells like rotten eggs.

You would think that the parentals would have tried to make this as painless as possible since we all had to leave our friends and schools and jobs but NO instead we're stuck on this stupid plane with annoying gross people who don't know how to keep their arm on their side of the arm rest and stewadesses who take half an hour to bring you a cup of coffee, pillows and blankets that stink and are probably covered with God knows how many germs!

This is absolutely ridiculous!


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone PLEASE comment. Any comments/reviews are greatly appreciated; praise or constructive criticism, it's all welcome! Doesn't have to be long, doesn't have to be more than a couple words but I'd really like to see some reviews, if I don't get any reviews then I feel like I'm not doing a very good job and loose confidence in my story and cant bring myself to continue it so please review. I'd really appreciate it. I'm going to have a couple of hours of free time tonight so I'll most likely be adding the next chapter tonight.

Also, everyone I just got this review, From: LadyAutreVita:  
This is an interesting concept as well as an interesting format! There is one  
slight thing that (as part of the industry) caught my eye. Hiring performers,  
stage hands, musicians, and the construction of the technical aspects all  
require a different skill set to understand and do properly. It seems odd that  
a 17 year old would have the knowledge and responsibility to do each of those  
things well. That's all. Sort of silly, but it made me think.

First of all, I want to thank LadyAutreVita for this review. She is absolutely right and this is actually something that I hadn't even thought about. It hadn't even occurred to me that this would seem strange or unrealistic. And I will tell you guys what I told LadyAutreVita just so that everyone is on the same page and everyone understands not only why I wrote it this way but why it never occurred to me that it would seem strange.

Now this isn't word for word what I said because I can't remember exactly what it is I said but this is it in a nutshell.

I said: "You're absolutely right that it very true. But when writing this story I actually took this particular part about Sara having been in theater all her life and having the skills and knowledge to do these things, I actually took those facts from my own life.

I was in Tech Theater and Theater Productions all through out middle school and high school. By the time I was seventeen and a senior I and a couple of my friends (who were also techies as well as drama students) were the student aides for the teacher who taught both these classes. And we did all of those things. We built sets, came up with set designs, were in charge of all the technical aspects; music, sound, lighting, costumes, makeup etc. It was also our job to get rights to the plays that we were putting on. We revised and fixed parts of the script when needed, we were in charge of auditions and choosing the cast, finding musicians and singers whatever was needed for the particular production that was being put on. The only thing that we didn't do was hire performers or stage hands because those came from the Tech Theater class and Theater Performance classes. Really the only thing our teacher did was teach the classes and step in to assist whenever it was needed."

So hopefully everyone understands now and is on the same page. If you have any questions/ comments about this or anything else, let me know. I hope you guys continue to read my story and continue to review. Thanks!

7/2/10

Ok, so I was in an extremely bad mood earlier. But on the upside I realized that having this diary to write in is actually a good thing because I am able to get all my frustrations out and vent all I want by writing in here, instead of killing someone like I wanted to do on the plane.

So, we've been in Paris for a day and here are somethings that I've noticed so far.

I barely remember anything of my high school French. I don't understand how I could have been so good at it just a year ago and now all I remember is about half the alphabet, how to count to 30, and a few odd sentences like My name is Sara and How are you. Luckily, everyone we've met so far knows English.

Paris is absolutely beautiful. I always knew it would be but in actually it's breath taking.

French guys are way hotter than American guys and I found my new weakness French Accents. I practiacally melted when our waittor spoke to me at the restaurant last night. Then of course my dear big brother Ronnie had to step in and ruin it.

It is going to be a lot easier for me to be around guys here than it was in the states. My brothers are going to be way too busy with the renovations on the opera house to worry about us girls.

Even though its sort of falling apart the opera house, is gorgeous. It's huge and I'm sure it has tons of hidden passage ways and I plan on finding them.

I wish that I could draw so that I could draw pictures of the Opera House in here but I suck at drawing so detailed desciptions will hjave to do. When I envisioned the opera house before I envisioned something looking like Notre Dame, gargoyles and kinda old and creepy looking but it doesn't look like that at all.

The outside of the opera house is all pillars, and archs, windows. I counted at least 20 windows at the front of the building alone. On the top of the opera house there's this beautiful green dome and golden angel sculptures, and horse sculptures. Right now a lot of the windows are broken and the sculptures obviously aren't real gold because the paint is chipping and parts of the dome are broken but I know once all that is fixed and the building is repainted, it is going to catch the eye of anyone going by.

The lobby is even more spectacular. You walk in through the main entrance and the first thing you see is this beautiful marble staircase. Now most of the marble is chipped or scratched and has about a foot of dust covering it but you can tell that once its polished it'll be gorgeous. You can tell that the railings of the staircase were once gold, and there are these red tapestry looking things hanging from the walls, all covered in dust and grime now. There's balconies over looking the lobby and a huge, mostly broken chandelier hanging in the center of the room and beautiful candelabras on the walls. It's hard to see it now but if you have a good imagination like I do, you can see how beautiful and breath taking this building must have been when it first opened.

Then there's the theater it self. Old, broken red and gold seats. A chandelier on the floor in the middle of the room. There must have been a fire here at some point because there is black ash and soot everywhere; the seats, the walls, the huge curtain on the floor of the stage. There's a huge whole in the roof where the chandelier must have hung. The rails of the many balconies are all crumbling as well as up on the seats of the second floor. Its all wood flooring in here, now broken and scuffed, black from the fire.

The back stage areas look the worst. There's still remains of costumes and old props, sets, flats, there's broken glass everywhere. The stairs up to the cat walk and where the lights are, are all broken I haven't found any other way up there yet. It's crazy to imagine how they put on shows here all those years ago, from what I can see of the lights over the stage and hanging from the cat walk, they weren't more than gas lamps. The ropes and weights from the rails for the lights and sets are all broken in the wings. The doors of the dressing rooms are all broken and the rooms themselves are trashed inside..

There's also offices up stairs. They must have been for the precious owners and other workers. They take up almost all of the second floor other than the balconies and seating for the upstairs. My parents have decided to turn these offices, this section of the building into a giant apartment for the family.

I found the dormitories. I guess the actors or dancers, stage hands lived here. I haven't decided what to do with this part of the opera house yet.

I think I'm the only one who sees how beautiful this place must have been. Everyone is walking around like they're in a haunted house or like they're waiting for the whole building to come crumbling down around them. My parents look like they bit off more than they can chew. I think its great and I cant wait to get started on the renovations. Even if everyone else in my family does, I'm not giving up by the time I'm done with this place it's going to be back to its old beauty and splendor, even if it means having to drop out of school for a while to have more time.

Well we're leaving the hotel and heading out to dinner so that's all for now.


	3. Chapter 3

7/3/10

They're unbelievable all of them. Dave and the guys are all ready to give up and go back to the states. We've only been here for two days, for Gods sake! And haven't even started renovations, haven't hired anyone, haven't done anything. They're trying to quit before they've even started and Mom and the girls are even more ridiculous. They want to completely redo the inside of the opera house, they want it to look "Modern".

They want to have the lobby completely redone so that everything in it is white and baby blue. They want to put a giant fountain in the middle of the room and have little white and blue couches everywhere with pop corn and soda vendors everywhere. They wanna have lights strung across the ceiling like Christmas lights and have pictures of famous female actresses like Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe.

In the theater itself they want to have benches not seats. Benches! And a baby blue curtain hanging in front of the stage. And clowns running around the aisles before the show. They want to get rid of the orchestra pit and not have a real orchestra playing for the shows they want it all to be recorded. They don't want to use the balconies, apparently it's a hazard, what if someone decides to jump off.

Theyre idiots! All of 'em and I told them so. Why would you spend so much money to fly the entire family here, buy an opera house then decide to give up and sell it after two days before you've done anything more then walk through the frickin building..

Secondly, this is an opera house not yankee stadium or a circus! Popcorn vendors, clowns, Christmas lights! How tacky could you get? You MIGHT be able to get away with something so stupid in the states if people are bored enough, but here no way. These people are soffisticated and are used to this beautiful opera house the way it is, the way it was. They would never go for that. I told them all, if that's what they plan on doing then count me out, I'll move in to a dorm at the university and get my degree, then open a real opera house.

So, Dave just called on my cell, they all talked about it and came to the conclusion that none of them have any idea what the hell they are doing and that they have already invested too much in the opera house to just leave. So, they put me in charge of everyone. I'm in charge of making the plans for the renovations and deciding how the opera house will be redone.

Finally they have come to they're senses.

Now I have to figure out how I'm gonna do this.

The first thing I think we need to do is get this place cleared out. Get rid of everything left backstage or in the dressing rooms and offices, see if there is anything that we can keep and reuse.

Then we need to get a cleaning crew in here, get rid of all this dust, and grime, ash and soot. That way we'll really be able to see what were working with.

Then we need to electric wiring and plumbing put into the building, apparently the building was shut down before any of that came around.

Then hire contractors and workers I guess.

I think we should focus on one area of the building at a time. First we focus on the outside; get the windows all repaired, the roof fixed, the statues and actual building repainted. Then focus on the lobby, the stairs and floor polished, the banisters repainted. Get the chandeliers and candelabras fitted with electrical wiring and get them back up and working.

Then move on to the theater. Have new seats put in. I decided I'm sticking with the red and gold theme through out the opera house, it just seems to fit. Then have the wood floors polished, new curtains put up on the stage and around the balconies, have the banisters of the balconies redone. The candelabra put up, make it so clean and new that you would never know there was ever a fire in there.

But, probably the biggest job of all will be getting the back stage areas redone. There needs to be new furniture in the dressing rooms, have the floor of the stage redone, we need to get new lights, have a whole new sound system put in, new lighting system, new ropes and weights for the rails put in, the cat walk needs to be rebuilt because its pretty old and doesn't look very steady. The offices need to be converted in to an apartment.

I think I've decided what I'm going to do about the dormitories. They're going to stay dormitories. I think we'll not only have this be an opera house but we'll also have it be a ballet academy, I have a dance studio built and the girls will not only live and study here but they will also perform in the shows.

I think finally with this start of a plan set we can move forward on the right track.

7/3/10 10:00pm

So, I stayed behind at the opera house tonight without the others. I wanted to walk around by myself with a notebook and take notes, write down an ideas I had, really look around, get a feel for the place. I knew they're had to be some kind of basement or underground level. I wanted to find it, wanted to find the hidden passageways I knew they're had to be. Some very good things happened, and some strange things happened.

First of all, I've decided I'm not going to live in the apartment with the others. During my walk through I came to a door backstage that I hadn't bothered to open before. It was locked when I tried but the door was so old and crumbling that I was able to kick it in. It was a dressing room like the others except it wasn't destroyed like the others. It was almost like this room had been preserved. It's dusty sure but nothing is broken. All of the old furniture is still there and intact. There's the withered up remains of flowers everywhere, moth eaten costumes.

But the amazing thing about the room is the beautiful, floor to roof, gold framed, full length mirror. It's absolutely breath taking and the most amazing thing about it is that its not just hanging on the wall like a normal mirror, its part of the wall, it is the wall and I would bet everything that there is a secret passage behind it. I tried to find a switch or latch or something to open it but I couldn't. But the weird thing is, I had the strangest feeling that someone was watching me from behind the mirror. I could just feel it, someone else's presence. I might have imagined it but I could have sworn I saw gold eyes staring out at me from behind it. I'll bet it's a two way mirror but I don't see how anyone could have been behind there. I've decided I'm going to turn this dressing room into my bedroom. There's an attached bathroom and I can probably have all of the old beautiful furniture cleaned and repaired so that I can keep it. I'll have a door built into the wall to lead into the dressing room next door and I'll turn that into my office.

Also, I've come to the conclusion that the opera house is haunted, not just because of the prescence I felt behind the mirror but also because I've been seeing and hearing things. I keep seeing a figure all in black out of the corner of my eye, but when I look its gone and I feel like I'm being watched and followed. Also, I keep hearing singing. It's the most beautiful male voice I have ever heard. At first I heard it when I was walking thought the hall leading to the the different boxes on the second floor, it was coming from down in the theater but when I got into the box and looked there wasn't anyone there but I know I heard singing.

I knew that this would be an adventure but the opera house being haunted is awesome. I don't think it could get any better.

A/N: Autre Thank you for your reviews and suggestions they are very much appreciated. Everyone else, according to my traffic there a lot of people reading this phic so guys PLEASE comment/review. As I said you don't have to write a book, a couple sentences would be more than enough. Even just a simple I like it or I don't like it would be great. I hope you guys continue to read and enjoy my story. I'll be posting a couple more "entries" today.


	4. Chapter 4

7/6/10

So I know its been a few days since I wrote but I've been so busy. I'm starting to wonder if taking all of this on was such a good idea. Some really strange things happening. I am even more convinced that the opera house is haunted.

Whatever ghost or spirit is around here, he's definintly watching me and he's making his opinions known.

We got all of the old furniture out, the whole building has been cleaned; no more dust or ash anywhere. Now we can really see what were working with and just have to start on the repairs and actual renovations.

I have my bedroom completely set up. All of the old furniture has been cleaned, the walls painted a very pretty burgundy color. I had a mohogony canopy bed put in, its old and a bit worn so it goes perfectly with the rest of the original furniture that I kept. I have a beautiful old dresser and matching vanity table. The bed spread, along with my bathroom fixtures and decorations are all gold to go with the burgundy walls. Tonight will be my first night in Opera House and I'll be by myself, well almost.

Now back to the ghost and his making his pleasure or displeasure known.

There was so much dust and ash on the ceiling of the theater that I hadn't even realized that it was painted with angels floating on clouds. I thought about it and we all discussed and we decided not to keep that way, we're going to paint over them, with the same burgundy paint that is in my room, we've also decided to have the fabric of the seats the same color and have all of the dressing rooms painted that color as well. After making these dicisions I walked into my room to find a bouquet of beautiful red roses all tied with a black ribbon and a note that said simply " I approve".

I was arguing with everyone about the boxes. They want to close them and not use them, I disagree its part of the opera house, and we'll make a lot of money with them once we're open. We all stood in the theater arguing when all of a sudden there was rumble, the whole building shook and it sounded like the whole world was crumbing down. After it stoped we went back out into the lobbly and realized that whole section of the roof in the lobby had caved in, there was rubble and dust everywhere. The marble floors were scratched and cracked, luckily no one had been in that room so no one was hurt but the lobby itself was ruined. The roof would have to be fixed, the floors polished, everything cleaned agin; even some of the stairs were cracked.

I had to come in to the room to sit down for a couple minutes, to catch my breath, clear my head and accept the fact that as far as the lobby was concerned, we were starting from scratch. I sat down at my vanity table laying my head on the table when I realized there was something underneath my head, it was a piece of paper and it said "Leave the boxes as they are."

So here I am writing about all of this. I don't know what to think. There is no way that this can be a ghost. Ghost's cant write, they don't some how cause a roof to cave in. But if it isn't a ghost then what or who is it.

I think that before buying this place and moving here we should have done some research on it. Which is what I'm doing now, let's see what I find.


	5. Chapter 5

****Hey I just wanted to apologize for the long wait for Sara's next "entries". Last week was extremely busy for me. My little brother graduated from high school and a good portion of my ginormous family was in town and school started today so I haven't had time to post anything but don't give up hope on my, I will be posting soon, definitely by Thursday so please bare with me and remember comments and reviews are always appreciated. **********

7/7/10

So as it turns out there's a lot about this opera house that we didn't know about.

I found a bunch of old newspapers and articles online. Back in 1912 when the opera house was up and running there was a string of crimes committed in the opera house; murders, kidnapping, and the fire that caused the opera house to shut down. It was said that these crimes were committed by a man who called himself the Opera Ghost and who lived in the cellars of the Opera House. There was even a part in the article that said that the "Opera Ghost" would send the managers and other employee's notes telling them how to the run the theater and what he wanted to see done.

This sounds just like what is happening to me but I don't understand how this is possible. If this is the same man who committed those crimes in 1912 there is no way that it can be him sending me those notes? The man they spoke about in the articles was said to have been in his mid to late twenties, if he was still alive he's have to be at least 123, that's impossible.

With the luck I've been having lately the person sending me those notes is some crazy homeless person who has heard of the stories and thinks that they are the opera ghost.

7/8/10

I arrived at the Opera House today to find the roof being fixed and the seats in the theater being installed.

I have decided that for now I will ignore this "Opera Ghost." Luckily no one was hurt when the roof fell in and so far the ghost and I have been on the same page so I'll just leave it alone for now and focus on restoring the Opera House.

7/22/10

It has been two weeks since my last entry. I have been so busy with the remodeling that I have not been able to write.

So much has been done in the past couple of weeks. The outside of the Opera House is completely finished, the lobby is done and my family's apartment is done. The theater, back stage areas, offices and dormitories are still under construction.

I've been trying to decide what to do with the cellars and basements. My family has been trying to pressure me into turning the cellars into more offices and selling them to independent businesses but I know that that isn't possible.

If there is a man or "ghost" down there I think that it would be wise if we all just leave him be. I know that the Opera Ghost is not very…fond shall we say of my family they have all been having "accidents" lately.

The other day Ronnie "tripped" on…something and fell right into a wall that had been just painted….face first may I add? Jazmine was "pushed" down a flight of stairs just a few steps short of the bottom and sprained her wrist when she hit the ground.

So far I'm the only one who has not had something happen to them. I just keep coming into my room and office to find roses and notes.

I think its time I go looking for this Opera Ghost, I can't have my family getting hurt.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hope you guys like this newest installment. Please review! I already have the next few entries written, I will post them as soon as you guys let me know what you thought about ch.6 or about the whole story all together. Thanks!

Hey thank you for the review! I so wasn't expecting to get any reviews back tonight. But I am definitely glad that you did. I just went over that last chapter and you're absolutely right, I didn't use very much detail. That is something that I am definitely going to try to work on. I have had a bit of writers block lately so everything I've written has been that great but I'm hoping to work my way through it soon. Thank you for the review. I so appreciate it and thank you for being patient with me and for not giving up on me or my phic.

7/28/10

I don't even know where to begin. The past few days have been….crazy to say the least. I guess I should just start from the beginning.

On the night of the 24th I decided to come back to the Opera House by myself to check things out. Originally I was going to bring Jazmine with me but I decided against it because her ankle is still sprained and she can't walk very much and also because I don't know what would happen if I did find the Opera Ghost and I had her with me.

I got back to the Opera House at about nine. Standing outside looking up at the building this late at night with no one around you would never have known that the inside was almost completely refurbished. The street was completely empty and the street lamps on that end of the street were not working. If I hadn't known what this building was it would have been easy to think that it was a haunted house that belonged in an amusement park. For a second there I almost decided to just go back to the hotel and leave things alone but deep down I knew that I couldn't do that, not with my family getting hurt. So, I took my keys out and opened the front door into the Opera House.

I had brought a flash light with me since I had decided against turning the lights on. I didn't want to do anything that would alert the "Opera Ghost" to my presence especially so late at night when no one else was around.

I clicked the flash light on, shining the light into the corners of the lobby. I headed to a doorway that I kept locked that was right on the base of the stairs. I kept this door locked because I didn't need to have employees or my family members wondering down into the cellars. There weren't going to be any murders or serious accidents while I run this Opera House.

I unlocked the door and walked into the hot stale air, shining my light up to the slanted roof from the stairs above me. Looking in front of me I saw another staircase but these stairs led down, down underground. I walked down the steps slowly, listening and watching. I didn't want to be taken by surprise. Finally after what seemed like an hour I reached the bottom of the staircase.

I had reached a long narrow hallway with cave like rooms on each side. As I walked passed each room I would shine the light into it. Most of the rooms were empty but a few had what looked to be barrels of something, one room had shelves with rows of what looked like bottles of wine. It was very dark down there, the farther down the hall I went the darker and quieter it got. There was also a chill in the air and the air felt moist, damp the way it would after a rain storm. I pointed the flash light up towards the ceiling wondering how far underground I was. I looked back down just in time. I had come back out on the other side of the hallway onto a giant lake. The water was crystal clear, you could see straight to the bottom. The water couldn't have been any deeper than six or seven feet.

This part of the cellars wasn't dark there were giant candelabras sticking out of the water every couple hundred feet and chandeliers hanging from the low ceiling. I could just barely make out a faint glow of lights coming from what I assumed was the other bank of the lake. Of course there were no boats down here so if I wanted to go any further I would have to swim. I was contemplating whether or not I should risk it when all of a sudden a hand wrapped around my mouth and nose from behind me, I took a deep breath ready to scream and in doing so I took a deep breath in and before I could even get the scream out, everything went black around me.

I…I can't continue the rest of this tonight. It's almost midnight and there are... things that need to be done in the morning. I need to get some rest. I'll finish this another time.


	7. Chapter 7

7/28/10

I don't even know where to begin. The past few days have been….crazy to say the least. I guess I should just start from the beginning.

On the night of the 24th I decided to come back to the Opera House by myself to check things out. Originally I was going to bring Jazmine with me but I decided against it because her ankle is still sprained and she can't walk very much and also because I don't know what would happen if I did find the Opera Ghost and I had her with me.

I got back to the Opera House at about nine. Standing outside looking up at the building this late at night with no one around you would never have known that the inside was almost completely refurbished. The street was completely empty and the street lamps on that end of the street were not working. If I hadn't know what this building was it would have been easy to think that it was a haunted house that belonged in an amusement park. For a second there I almost decided to just go back to the hotel and leave things alone but deep down I knew that I couldn't do that, not with my family getting hurt. So, I took my keys out and opened the front door into the Opera House.

I had brought a flash light with me since I had decided against turning the lights on. I didn't want to do anything that would alert the "Opera Ghost" to my presence especially so late at night when no one else was around.

I clicked the flash light on, shining the light into the corners of the lobby. I headed to a doorway that I kept locked that was right on the base of the stairs. I kept this door locked because I didn't need to have employees or my family members wondering down into the cellars. There weren't going to be any murders or serious accidents while I run this Opera House.

I unlocked the door and walked into the hot stale air, shining my light up to the slanted roof from the stairs above me. Looking in front of me I saw another staircase but these stairs led down, down underground. I walked down the steps slowly, listening and watching. I didn't want to be taken by surprise. Finally after what seemed like an hour I reached the bottom of the staircase.

I had reached a long narrow hallway with cave like rooms on each side. As I walked passed each room I would shine the light into it. Most of the rooms were empty but a few had what looked to be barrels of something, onne room had shelves with rows of what looked like bottles of wine. It was very dark down there, the farther down the hall I went the darker and quiter it got. There was also a chill in the air and the air felt mosist, damp the way it would after a rain storm. I pointed the flash light up towards the ceiling wondering how far underground I was. I looked back down just in time. I had come back out on the other side of the hallway onto a giant lake. The water was crystal clear, you could see straight to the water couldn't have been any deeper than six or seven feet.

This part of the cellars wasn't dark there were giant candelabtras sticking out of the water every couple hundred feet and chandeliers hanging from the low ceiling. I could just barely make out a faint glow of lights coming from what I assumed was the other bank of the lake. Of course there were no boats down here so if I wanted to go any further I would have to swim. I was contemplating whether or not I should risk it when all of a sudden a hand wrapped around my mouth and nose from behind me, I took a deep breath ready to scream and in doing so I took a deep breath in and before I could even get the scream out, everything went black around me.

I…I cant continue the rest of this tonight. It's almost midnight and there are.. things that need to be done in the morning. I need to get some rest. I'll finish this another time.


	8. Chapter 8

*****A/N- 7/18/10 So, I work at an assisted living facility and we have an actor who has previously been on Broadway who comes in to sing to the residents and I'm sitting here at work writing one of my future installments and I was having a hard time concentrating, all of a sudden he starts singing All I Ask of You. I started laughing; I'm like well that's good inspiration. Haha

So, I know I know my last post was a cliff hanger and you guys are probably hating it but I'll continue soon I promise. Review Please!

7/24/10

So first of all I want to say thank you for the reviews.

Sinario- First of all I want to say thank you for the review. Second of all, I'm glad that you are interested in my story enough to watch for the next update.

Now, let me say that I'm sorry that you were disappointed in the fact that I updated with an author's note rather than an actual post. I did this for two reasons. One because I wasn't expecting to leave just the authors note up for more than an hour; I was working on my next post and was going to update and edit that chapter with an actual chapter but since the only place I actually have a computer is at work, it's the only time I can update and write. But the downside to doing this at work is that I often am given something to do so I get sidetracked and next thing I know its been a week I haven't been a able to update.

This brings me to the second reason why I do this. Being that I work 40+ hour weeks and go to school full time, there are times that I go weeks without updating and I hate to just stop writing and leave you guys completely hanging. I always feel like you guys are just going to give up and stop looking to see if I have posted. I know there are people out there who begin a phic, write a few chapters and then just stop all together. I write the authors note so that you guys will know that this is not the case with me, that I am still here and will be updating soon. It wasn't my intention to give you guy's false hope. I'm sorry for that. **********************************************

7/28/10 1:00AM

I had to get up and continue writing, I couldn't fall asleep. I know that I won't be able to until I get this all out. I left off at everything around me going black. So, here is the rest of the story.

Have you ever had that experience when you're conscious enough to hear what's going on around you but your still asleep, still out of it? Well that's how it was for me; my sense of hearing came back before anything else. I could hear singing. It was the most beautiful male voice I had ever heard, singing the most beautiful lyrics.

_Night-time sharpens,  
heightens each sensation  
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination  
Silently the senses abandon their defenses ..._

Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor  
Grasp it, sense it - tremulous and tender  
Turn your face away  
from the garish light of day,  
turn your thoughts away  
from cold, unfeeling light -  
and listen to the music of the night ...

Close your eyes and surrender to your  
darkest dreams!  
Purge your thoughts of the life  
you knew before!  
Close your eyes  
let your spirit start to soar!  
And you'll live  
as you've never lived before ...

Softly, deftly,  
music shall surround you ...  
Feel it, hear it,  
closing in around you ...  
Open up your mind,  
let your fantasies unwind,  
in this darkness which  
you know you cannot fight -  
the darkness of the music of the night ...

Let your mind start a journey  
through a strange new world!  
Leave all thoughts  
of the world you knew before!  
Let your soul take you where you  
long to be!  
Only then can you belong to me ...

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication!  
Touch me, trust me savor each sensation!  
Let the dream begin,  
let your darker side give in  
to the power of the music that I write -  
the power of the music of the night ...

You alone can make my song take flight -  
help me make the music of the night . . .

I woke up slowly as if from a long peaceful nap_, _listening to those lyrics and that beautiful voice. The first thing I noticed was the cold. It was freezing; my body was covered in goose bumps. Then I noticed that my hands and feet were bound. My hands were handcuffed together above my head and my feet were tied together by rope. I had yet to open my eyes, I was almost too afraid of what I would see but I opened them now. I didn't stop to taken the room around me, I just looked up at my hands bound together and tied to a hook in the column behind me. I struggled with the handcuffs pulling and yanking, trying to slide my hands out of the handcuffs and cutting my wrists in the process.

Finally I stopped when I felt the searing pain in my wrists from they were cut and scraped. I looked around taking in the room around me. I was in a giant cavern but there were red velvet drapes hanging from the walls and beautiful Persian carpets on the stone floors. There were dozens of small chandeliers hanging from the ceiling; these chandeliers still used candles I noticed not like the electric ones we had just installed upstairs. But the most amazing thing was the giant organ built right into the back wall of the cavern. About 300 feet from me was the lake, I was on the other bank of the lake I realized the glow I had seen was all these candles and chandeliers.

I looked around the room trying to find the man I had heard singing but I didn't see anyone. But I realized that by the organ there was an arched doorway that led into what looked like a bedroom, and beside the doorway there were stairs that led up to a landing where there was another arch way. This must be where the "Opera Ghost" lived I realized. With this realization came fear. After all the accidents he had caused my family members to have, God only knew what he would do to me.

I began pulling and tugging on the handcuffs, trying to pull them off the hook. I would jump into the lake handcuffed if I had to. I'd rather drown then be tortured or worse by some…lunatic. But, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the handcuffs to come off the hook. By this time my wrists were bleeding so much that the blood was streaming down my arms. But, I didn't care, I ignored the pain… I had to get away.

All of a sudden I heard a voice. The same voice I had heard singing, his voice. It stopped me dead. At first I didn't know where he was but then I realized he was standing on the landing at the top of the stairs. The first thing I noticed was the mask. He had a pale white mask on the right side of his face. The next thing I noticed was that he was extremely good looking. He had jet black hair that was slicked back. He wore black slacks and a white button up shirt. I couldn't help but stare. He had this… aura of confidence about him. He must have realized that I hadn't heard him the first time because he spoke again. "If you keep pulling on those cuffs that way you'll bleed to death." He said this as he began walking down the steps; he walked over standing in front of me. "I wouldn't be very happy if that happened, after all I won't be able to have very much fun with you, if you're dead." He said looking down at me with a devilish smile on his face…..


	9. Chapter 9

7/29/10 6:00AM

I must have fallen asleep at my desk while writing. I have a horrible cramp in my neck from sleeping in such an awkward position but I know that I need to get this out so I'll just ignore it and continue.

"Who the hell are you, who do you think you are! Let me go!" I yelled at the man in front of me who just looked down at me with a patient smile on his face. "You can scream all you want my dear but no one is going to hear you, we are several hundred feet below ground and it is after midnight. So, I suggest you calm down so that I may untie you and dress those cuts on your wrists." He said walking over to me, unhooking my hands, and helping me to stand up.

That was exactly what I had been waiting for. I put all my strength into knocking the man over, I then jumped straight into the water, attempting to swim away but the water was freezing, and the weight of the handcuffs were too heavy and I had no way of paddling my way to the surface. I sank. What felt like an hour passed and just as everything around me started to go black I felt two strong arms wrap around me, haul me to the surface and carry me out of the lake. I must have passed out because I don't remember anything after that.

When I woke up I was laying on the comfiest couch I had ever been on, in front of a roaring fire. I looked up to see the Opera Ghost sitting in a chair across from me, watching me. Then I noticed that I was wrapped in a giant plush blanket and that underneath the blanket I was naked and my now bandaged hands were still cuffed together. . I looked up at the man in front of me, wide eyed. " W-What did you do to me?" He just chuckled and took a sip from the tea cup in front of him before speaking. "Believe me, had I done anything to you, you would know it." I looked down at the ground. "Who are you, why did you bring me here?" He smiled. "My name is Erik, I am the infamous Opera Ghost and I brought you here so that we could discuss a few things, and… get to know each other better." He laughed at the look on my face. "Platonically I mean. If I had meant to hurt you or rape which is what you are thinking I'm sure I would have done it when you were unconscious and completely at my mercy." I sat up a little on the couch, and awkwardly adjusted the blanket so that it was wrapped around me but underneath my arms so that I was free to move my arms, this left my shoulders and neck bare but it was the only way I would be able to freely move my arms. I reached for the tea cup in front of me, taking a sip from it and savoring the feel of the warm tea running down my throat, the water in the lake had truly been freezing. I winced at the pain the movement was bringing to my wrists, Erik….. Must have noticed this because he said "I suppose I can take those cuffs off you now. But, I should warn you that I have lowered the portcullis so even if you dared go back into the lake you wouldn't be able to get out. And believe me even if you managed to find my hidden passage ways that lead out of my home, you would either get lost or you would wonder into one of my many traps and then you would die. So if I were you I would stick around and relax, as long as you are here, anything in my home is yours… except for my organ, no one touches that but me. So, can I take those off you now or will you be dumb enough to try to escape again?" I laid back down thinking, contemplating my options. "Fine, I'll play along…for now but if you try to hurt me, I will fight back." At this Erik stood up, smiling that devilish smile once more, walked over the couch and bent down to unlock the handcuffs but instead of unlocking them he grabbed my arms and pinned them above my head so that they were hanging over the arm of the chair behind me. "I would love for you to try to fight me back, I love a feisty woman." He said placing a soft kiss on my neck just where my shoulder began. I squirmed but he was too strong there was nothing I could do. But, he stopped and finally unlocked the handcuffs, taking them and sitting back down on the couch across from me.

I sat back up, making sure that the blanket stayed up around me. "You said you had things you wanted to discuss, what are they?"

My head is hurting, I need something to eat. I'll continue the rest of this tonight.


	10. Chapter 10

"I brought you here so that we could discuss the running of our theater…. Yes I said OUR theater. I know that the reason you came looking for me was so that the accidents your family members have been having would stop. Well, if you agree to work with me and include me in the decisions concerning the theater, the accidents will stop. I have already tried running this theater through fear and demands and that didn't work out well for anyone, including myself. This time around I'd like to try running it through a mutual partnership. So... what do you think my dear?" Erik sat back, taking a sip of his tea and watched me waiting for my answer.

I took a few minutes to think about his proposal, consider the alternatives. I wasn't completely against a "mutual partnership" as he put it, but I wanted to be sure of what exactly that would entail. I looked up at Erik, searching his face for any show of emotion before speaking… "When you say mutual partnership do you mean you make the decisions and I follow to keep my family out of danger or do you mean we discuss things, and come to a mutual decision?" I say taking deep breaths to keep myself calm.

I watched Erik who seemed to be contemplating his answer, finally he said "As I said before I've already tried running this theater by making demands and it not only ruined my life and the lives of many others but also ruined the theater, I was the cause of exactly what I was trying to avoid. So when I say mutual agreement I mean that we will discuss things and come to an agreement when having to make decisions about the theater. So far I have agreed with the decisions you've made, for being as young as you are you seem to know what you're doing and I have no doubts that with my help and guidance you can restore this opera house to its former glory. So, Sara do we have an agreement?"

After a few moments thought I nodded my head and smiled at Erik agreeing to this partnership. "So does this mean I can go now?" I said sitting up, making sure the blanket stayed in place.

"No Mon Ange I think it would be better if you stayed a few days." He said smiling slightly and picking up a remote from the table in between us. He aimed the remote toward the fireplace and after hitting a button he watched as a panel in the wall about the fireplace slid back and to the side as a tv screen slid forward. Erik turned the tv on and switched it to a news channel. The anchor was talking about the weather and showing the very street outside the opera house. It was pouring and the anchor was having to hold on to a street lamp to keep from being blown over by the wind. Erik turned the volume up so we could hear what was being said. The anchor had to shout to be heard over the wind.

" This is the biggest storm we've had in Paris in years. Several building have been struck by lightning already. The wind is currently blowing at


	11. Chapter 11

"This is the biggest storm we've had in Paris in years. Several building have been struck by lightning already. The wind is currently blowing at 95 miles per hour. We suggest that everyone remain indoors until this storm passes. As of right now it seems to be sitting right above Paris, unmoving. We understand that no one had any opportunity to prepare themselves for this but attempting to get around in this bad a storm would be suicide. Our meteorologists are saying that this storm could last at least 2 or 3 days, we know it will be difficult but again we are suggesting that everyone remain indoors and do their best to ride the storm out."

I sat back staring at the screen, gathering my thoughts until finally I looked over at Erik and spoke. "You just happened to bring me down here when a major storm was about to it and now I just happen to be stranded here for 3 days. Don't you think that's a bit of a coincidence?"

A slow mischievous smile spread over Erik's face. "If you are suggesting my dear that I knew that the storm was coming and I took you so that you would have to stay here with me through the storm, you're wrong. I'm not psychic I did not know that there was a storm coming but I did plan on having you stay a few days."

I leaned forward to try to read the expression on Erik's face... "So if you didn't know that there was a storm coming, how would you have known that I would stay? The only reason I'm staying now is because of the storm."

Erik laughed a full loud laugh that bounced off the walls. "Darling you never had any choice. Your staying here with me was something I decided. If you hadn't agreed to stay, I would have made you. We may have agreed to a mutual partnership but my dominating nature wouldn't have let me allow you to just walk away. I decided it would be best for us to….get to know each other better, so I decided you were staying end of story." At this point Erik stood up and walked over to me, leaning down toward me, a mischievous grin on his face. He grabbed a handful of my hair at the back of my head and pulled me toward him into a full on kiss and he took my surprised gasp as an opportunity to stick is unusually long tongue into my mouth and curl it around my own tongue. Without even realizing it, without a second thought I was kissing him back and had my arms around his neck, my hands grabbing his hair just as he was doing to mine. Erik continued to kiss me while sub-consciously without even realizing it I slid a hand to the corner of his mask.

Erik pulled away as if I had struck him. He was breathing heavily and his lips were puffy from our kissing as I'm sure mine were. "You will be here with me for the next few days maybe longer if I deicide I'm not ready to let you go. I'm positive we will share many intimate moments like the one we just had. By the end of these three days, I will have teased and tortured you so much that you will be begging me to take you, to make you mine and eventually I will give accept and give us what we both want but let me make one thing absolutely clear. You may make yourself comfortable in my home, you may touch or use whatever you like, and I will gladly let you have access to any part of my body you would like but you WILL NOT remove my mask." Erik leaned down putting his face as close to mine as he could without actually touching me. "Do you understand?"

Only about half of what he had said had actually registered in my mind, my head was still reeling from the unexpected kiss and my equally as unexpected reaction. I sat there stunned unable to form a coherent thought let alone an entire sentence. But I managed to nod my head.

Erik smiled leaning forward and kissing my softly and said "Good then you may make yourself at home in any of my guest rooms and if you don't mind and if you'll excuse me, I think I need a cold shower." He said laughing glancing down at the bulge in his pants to make sure I understood what he was saying. He leaned forward and kissed me once more than turned and walked away down a hallway on my left.

I sat there for another ten minutes still trying to process what had happened and trying to figure out how I had let myself become at the mercy of this gorgeous yet frightening and mysterious man.

****A/N: I hope you guys enjoy! I know its been a while, I'm sorry. I promise I'll update more frequently. Give me your comments/opinions please. I know this Chapter was short but I'll be updating again tomorrow so please bare with me keep reading and reviewing. Thanks!****


	12. Chapter 12

Finally I was my head stopped spinning and I was able to think clearly. I stood up from the couch making sure to keep the blanket wrapped tightly around my body and headed down the same hallway Erik had gone down.

I stopped at the first door on my left, knocking on it softly I opened the door; inside was a beautiful room with walls painted a beautiful light green and the most beautiful mahogany furniture I had ever seen. There was a four poster, canopy bed with sheets to match the walls and a vanity table with brushes and combs, makeup and all sorts of hair and skin care products. I opened the armoire to find my own clothing hanging up, opening the drawers in the dresser I found more of my own clothing. I sat down on the bed speechless, how did he manage to get my clothes but then I realized…he must have taken them from my room here in the opera house.

It was surreal to realize that was in fact still in the opera house, I felt like I was in another world. The clock on the night stand read 3:00AM so I changed into a pair of my most comfy pj's and climbed into the huge bed, I was asleep in less then five minutes.

I woke up the next morning to find a shirtless Erik sitting on the edge of my bed watching me sleep. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to intrude on people?" I said pulling the blanket up around me.

"The only thing my mother ever told me was that I was the devil." Erik said using his fingertips to push the loose strands of hair out of my face. "But I certainly didn't come in here to discuss my mother with you." He said smiling softly. "Then why did you come in here?" I said leaning back against my pillows. "For this" he said before leaning forward and kissing softly yet possessively. We continued kissing for a few moments before Erik spoke and ruined everything.

"I was thinking about you all night last night, I knew I shouldn't have given you the choice of sleeping in your own room I should have brought you into my room with me and spent the night actually making love to you rather than just fantasizing about when you give yourself to me, which WILL be happening soon love."

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I was pissed. Before I even realized what I was doing I had pushed Erik off of me and was jumping off the bed to round on him and yell. "Who the hell do you think you are? What makes you think that you can just tell me where I am going to sleep or who I am going to sleep with! Do not think that just because this is your house that you are in control of me because you not and the only reason I'm here in the first place is because you dragged me down here and I wouldn't know how the hell to get out of here if I tried. Let me make it absolutely clear, I will not be giving anything to you…period." I stood there staring at Erik; ready to tell him off some more when I noticed the smug grin on his face and who looked like he was forcing himself not to laugh.

"What could possibly be funny?" I said walking over and leaning against the wall across the room trying to give myself some space but turned out to be a bad idea. Erik stood and walked over putting his hands on either side of my head and who moved his body close enough so that it was inches shy of touching mine. "What's funny dear is that your little speech would have been impressive to anyone else but to me it just seemed like a whole lot of talk with out any action to back it up. You say that I'm not in control well it seems to me like I am since I was able to waltz right into your room this morning and you didn't have very much to say about. Most women who didn't want a man in their room on their bed would have told him to get the hell out but did you do that? No you did not, you kissed me back. Which brings me to my next point? I may not know everything about you but I can read people very well and I know that you are neither stupid nor weak and that if you hadn't wanted me to kiss and if you didn't want me as much as I do you, you wouldn't have let me kiss you, you wouldn't have let me kiss you back and you wouldn't let me this close to you now. Nor would you allow me to do this."

Before I could even register everything he had said Erik kissed me and pushed his body fully against mine, against the wall behind me so that not only could I feel every contour of his body but so that I could feel the hardness that had formed between his legs and before I knew it he was shoving one hand down into my pajama pants and onto a part of my body that no one else had ever touched.

"Well, well, well according to how extremely wet you are I would say that you wanting me as much I do you is definitely a fact." He said as he slowly slid a finger aginst me.

Erik must have expected me to react in a positive way; perhaps by sliding my own hand into his pants or by telling him to take me to bed but I am sure that my reaction was the exact opposite if what Erik was expecting.

I shoved Erik away from me and without giving it a second thought slapped squarely across the face.

'I have never let anyone touch me in that way what in the hell makes you think that I would let you. Your absolutely right you don't know me which is why you don't know that although I may be very attracted to you and although I may have let you kiss me, I am not the type of woman to sleep with a man on a whim, and is why you don't know that I am a virgin and have no intention of losing my virginity to someone I haven't even known for a full 24 hours. Now if you don't mind I would really appreciate it if you would just leave." I said giving Erik once last glance as I turned and headed into the adjoining bathroom.

7/31/10

I was stunned that things could have gotten out of hand so quickly. I had never let anything like this happen before. I had made out with plenty of guys and gone pretty far with a couple but I had never let anything like this happen before. I was so confused and my thoughts were so jumbled. I was usually always so clear and level headed.

Standing in the bathroom looking around slowly I saw the giant tub in the corner and decided that maybe a hot bath would help me clear my head. Opening the cabinets above the sink I found bath salts, and scented bubble bath designed to help you relax. I sifted through the different scents and settled on a bottle of rose scented bubble bath. After turning on the hot water and pouring in the soap is lowly slid out of my pajamas and into the tub, moaning as the hot water and scent of rose helped me entire body to relax. I laid there for a few minutes with my eyes closed taking deep breaths of the rich relaxing scent before opening my eyes and staring up at the ceiling gathering my thoughts. It was so weird laying there in that tub knowing that there was a storm raging above me. After several minutes the water started to cool so I sat up to turn the faucet back on and allow more hot water to wash over me. Just as I lay back down in the tub and laid my head back against the rim there was a knock at the door and without even waiting for me to answer Erik walked in.

***A/N: Ok guys so I really want to get Sara's next entry to you guys by the end of the week but I am having a serious bout of writers block. So I thought maybe you guys could give me a little inspiration. Are there any ideas that you guys may have, any situations that you would like to see any of the characters in? Any ideas you guys could give me would be awesome! Thanks again for reading and being patient with me guys.****


	13. Chapter 13

"Are you serious Erik? Are you really that freaking stupid! I just slapped you across the face and yet you still come waltzing in here with that stupid grin on your face! Apparently your not gonna learn so you know what I would rather have to fight my way back to the hotel in a storm then deal with your cocky ass anymore! So have a nice life!" I yelled grabbing a robe from the hook by the tub and using it to cover myself quickly in the hopes that Erik wouldn't see anything.

I pushed Erik out of the way heading into the bedroom then through to the main part of the house and to the boat but before I could get into it Erik grabbed me from behind, turning me around and pinning my arms to my side so that I couldn't move. "Do you really think that you can just walk away from me? I'm the Phantom of the Opera; no one just walks away from me, especially not a woman! I told you that you would be mine and you will be even if I have to force you."

I stood there stunned. This was not the cocky but sweet Erik I had met earlier, he had been replaced by this rude, menacing Erik. It was like a flip had been switched in his brain and for the first time I was truly and honestly afraid of him. But I knew that if I didn't do something soon, Erik would hurt me.

I spoke softly now, unsure of how he would react. "Erik, what do you mean you the phantom of the opera?"

Erik laughed a loud, crazy laugh that bounced off the walls of the cavern. "You don't need to know. The only thing you need to know is that when I want something I get it, and I want you." And before I knew it he was kissing me again, but this wasn't like the gentle kisses from before this was Erik trying to stick his tongue as far down my throat as he could. Still, I let myself sink in to the kiss, let my body relax just long enough for him to think that I had given in and relax his grip on me and then I bit down on his tongue as hard as I could. When Erik backed away howling in pain I took the opportunity to kick him between the legs.

By the time he hit the ground I was already in the boat rowing towards the opposite shore. As I was rowing I turned to see Erik standing knee deep in the water staring at the water angrily and it was then that I realized that Erik couldn't swim. He looked up to see me watching and turned going through a curtain near his organ and I knew that he probably had shortcuts that lead all over the building I just hoped that they wouldn't take him to the main entrance of the building before I was able to get out.

I made it to the opposite shore and ran through the tunnels back up to my room and through the door in the mirror open. I ran through the room and made it into the lobby of the opera house before I heard Erik's footsteps behind me but by that time I was already opening the door out into the storm, and it was like stepping into hell.

The storm was raging worse then ever outside and all I had on was a robe. No shoes; nothing. As I headed down the steps in front of the opera house and to the street I realized that the streets were already flooded, I started to wade through knee deep water as fast as I could but the wind kept pushing me back and there was hail falling hitting me all over the body as well as things flying around in the air from the strength of the wind. I used my arms to block my face as best I could but I was running out of energy fast and I had only gone a few feet having to press against the water and wind. All of a sudden I felt a burning pain in my right foot. It worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life. I managed to drag myself up the steps of a closed store front. When I got to the top of the stairs I looked down at my feet to see what had happened and almost passed out on the spot. Both my feet were covered in blood and looked like they had been cut to ribbons but through the blood I could see the tip of a nail sticking through the top of my skin, I stepped on a nail. I opened my mouth to scream but before I could something came flying through the air and hit me square in the temple. I hit the ground just as everything went black.


	14. Chapter 14

I opened my eyes just as my brain registered that I was being carried, someone was carrying me and there was a searing pain in my feet, traveling up through my legs.

Whoever was carrying me was holding me like a sack of potatoes over their shoulder while trying to wade in the now hip deep water.

I squirmed trying to see who was carrying me but I must have surprised the person because just as I was able to see the corner of Erik's mask, he stumbled and the last thing I remember is going head first in to the freezing water.

I could hear and feel before I was actually fully conscious. I could tell that I was lying on a couch and I could feel the warmth from a fire place as well as hear the fire crackling. I opened my eyes slowly and was surprised to realize that I was back on the couch in Erik's living room. I was back where I started. My swollen bandaged feet were sticking out from underneath the blanket, when I lifted the blanket I saw that I was wearing men's pajama bottoms and a long sleeve shirt. My temple was throbbing as I lifted my hand to feel the bandage on the side of my head.

I saw movement from the corner of my eye and turned to see Erik come walking into the room holding a bowl with steaming water in it, wash clothes and bandages. He had a bruise on the side of his face and cuts on his arms and legs and when he opened his mouth to speak I could see that his tongue was swollen. I could help but feel a twinge of satisfaction in that. I was still very angry at him so I gave him a dirty look and said "Why did you bring me back here, I thought I made it pretty clear that I no longer wanted to be here."

Erik gave me a cool, patient look as he sat on the coffee table beside me and leaned over to start changing the bandages on my head. "I brought you back here because had I not you would have bled to death on those steps from the wounds on your head and feet."

I just stared at him stubbornly. Then after a few moments, "So how did you save me anyway, you can't swim."

Erik slid down on the table towards my feet. I tried not to wince as he unwrapped the bandages around my feet; I stared at his face to keep myself from looking at my poor feet. "You're lucky that the water was still low enough for me to be able to wade through it, had it been any higher and I wouldn't have been able to get to you. It was hard enough as it is. Now as for your injuries, your head should be fine, you have a gash and possibly a slight concussion but it's nothing that we shouldn't be able to handle. Your feet on the other hand are pretty injured. I had to give you a tetanus shot so that you wouldn't get an infection or worse and they may be scarred but I'll do my best to keep that from happening. But you probably won't be able to walk on your own for a few weeks while they heal."

"After the way you acted earlier do you really expect me to just stay here? You threatened to rape me Erik! I appreciate you saving me but I am not staying here." I stood before Erik could stop me but immediately fell to the floor, the pain was unbearable and the room spun around me but I still managed to catch the look of shock on Erik's face.

"Are you crazy woman, did I not just tell you that you're hurt. Are you trying to get yourself killed? Let me help you at least." Erik said as he helped me stand up then scooped me into his arms and carried me back into the bedroom where I had last slept. Erik set me down on the bed gently. "If you try to leave again you could injure yourself worse then you already are or even kill yourself. Just stay here I'll behave." He said as he lifted the blanket up to cover me. He pointed to a bell on the night stand next to me. "If you need anything just ring the bell." Then I was left alone in the room.

I lay there staring up at the canopy of the bed. As much as I hated to admit it Erik was right. If I tried to leave in this condition I would probably die. I would have to stay with Erik until the storm was over but, then I realized that even when the storm was over I couldn't walk to be able to get back to the hotel. Well, I figured, I'll just have to take things day by day and see how they go but I know that if Erik goes nuts again I'll have to find some way to defend myself and that's not going to be easy in my current condition.

Pretty soon I had fallen asleep and I woke feeling very cold. I opened my eyes to see Erik standing above me, watching me. It took me a couple seconds to realize that I the blanket that had been covering me was gone and all I had on was a bra and tiny pair of boy shorts. "Erik! What the hell are you doing?" I yelled looking around for the blanket to cover myself but it was no where to be found. I screamed for him to get out but it was like Erik had become someone else he just stood there staring at me with this hungry look. All of a sudden he was on top of me, straddling me. "I told you that you would be mine." He purred in my ear before licking the side of my neck and sucking on it.


	15. Chapter 15

'Wow, that feels good…. wait what the hell am I thinking, tell him to get off of you, you idiot.'

"Erik! Get off of me now. Please, you don't want to do this, you told me you would behave. You know that I'm hurt I can't walk, you're not really going to use that as a chance to take advantage of me are you?" I said, aloud this time. I tried to push Erik off of me but I just didn't have the strength. Fighting my way through the storm had taken so much more out me than I had originally thought.

"The Phantom does not need to take advantage of any woman angel, all women have desires and The Phantom knows just how to give it to them."

"What? Who's The Phantom? Erik are you drunk, what's going on?" I had given up struggling, there was no point it was obvious I was not going to be able to stay here and avoid this happening I might as well just give in to it. I lay there trying to focus on something across the room hoping to stop the room from spinning. I hoped he would just hurry up and get it over with but apparently Erik had no intention of doing anything quickly, he had continued kissing my neck and was slowly running his right hand up and down my body while using his left to hold me down. I tried not to focus on the fact that it actually felt good.

'How can you think this feels good, what the hell is wrong with me. I should be disgusted not getting turned on. Put up some kind of fight, get him to kiss you and bite him, something. Why am I attracted to him, he's an asshole. And who the hell is the Phantom, what is going on?'

"Darling, you aren't acting like you are enjoying this, although your body is saying different." Erik stopped his minstrations and sat up to look at me. "Why are you acting like you don't want me love. All women want the Phantom."

"Erik, what are you talking about? Who's the Phantom?" Before I knew what was happening Erik had back handed me and then got off of me but stood by the bed. When I got over the shock of being smacked I looked over at him but it was like looking at a completely different person. His hair was disheveled, his eyes had turned a dark blue, his pupils were dilated and there was a sizeable bulge in the front of his pants although I tried to ignore that detail.

"Are you really that ignorant girl?" "Erik is not here now; you have now had the pleasure and honor of meeting the Phantom. Erik is an idiot, he has no idea what he is doing, he wants you but he is too much of a coward to do anything about it. So, I decided it was time for me to do you myself since Erik doesn't have the balls. Figuratively of course Darling, I can assure you that literally Erik and I are very well endowed. I'm sure that if you let your guard down you would enjoy every second of it, in fact let me prove it to you." As he said this "the Phantom" climbed back on top of me and started to kiss my neck again. As he did he took my hand and slid it along the bulge in his pants. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something else besides what was happening and the fact that the Phantom was right and Erik was well endowed.

'How can you be thinking of that Sara, your about to be raped and your thinking that if it's really as big as it feels it probably will feel good. Come to think of it, its probably not even rape if I'm thinking this way.'

I had been so preoccupied with my internal monologue that I hadn't even noticed that "the Phantom" was not longer on top of me and he was watching me from across the room.

"Darling this really isn't fun if you're not going to fight back or give yourself in to enjoying it like I know you would, you've bored me tonight but I can assure you I will be back…soon. Once you've recovered enough to really be fun to me."

With that he walked out of the room. Leaving me confused and feeling lost.

I lay in bed the rest of the night thinking about the predicament I was in. I had no more visits from Erik or "the Phantom."

'So that's what's going on. Erik has multiple personalities. This Phantom must be his other personality. Maybe…just maybe 'the Phantom' is the reason why the Opera House was closed in the first place. I'll have to do some research when I get out of here, but who knows that will be and what about the family, eventually they're going to realize that I'm missing and then what. And what do I do about the Phantom, eventually he's going to take things all the way and what's with me liking it.' I thought about these things for a while and eventually came to the conclusion that it wasn't the Phantom I was attracted to it was Erik and Erik was lost in there somewhere. I wondered if he remembered these episodes afterwards, if he did he never said anything. I would have to watch and see how he acted in the morning and try to determine if he knows or not.

Finally I was able to fall asleep. I was woken up the next morning by the sound of my door opening. I opened my eyes to see Erik coming in with a bowl of steaming water and towels. He looked like his normal self again although he had bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn't slept at all. He came over to the bed and lifted the blanket off of me then sat down by me and started to unwrap the bandages on my feet. I knew this was Erik and not the Phantom but still I couldn't help my reaction when he touched me. My whole body stiffened and I gasped. He changed so suddenly that I was afraid; he would be ok one second and then the Phantom the next and do something to hurt me. I hoped he hadn't noticed but I could tell by the way he pulled away and stood up that he had.

"Look Sara, I know that we have been arguing a lot and that I say things I shouldn't but I wouldn't hurt you. I'm doing the best I can to take care of you. I'm just trying to change the dressing on your feet and head. You can't stand and you shouldn't soak your feet for to long so your only choice as far as bathing is a sponge bath,"

As he said this my eyes got wide and I crossed my arms over my chest, Erik looked shaken and hurt.

"If you had let me finish before getting defensive I was going to say that I would bring you a tub of hot water and some rags and would leave to let you bathe yourself and only help you of you asked for it. Look, I don't know why you're so afraid of me, I know I act arrogant and aggressive but it's just because I'm not used to having a beautiful woman around, let alone one who will let me touch her in anyway, but now you're cringing away from me like I'm some monster. Did you manage to get up and spy on me; did you see me without my mask on, is that why you're so afraid of me all of a sudden?"

I swear my heart broke, right then and there. I felt horrible. I sat up and reached out and grabbed Erik's arm and pulled him down so he would sit down next to me. He looked so hurt, I didn't know what else to do, and I pulled him to me and kissed him fully on the lips. At first Erik just made this sort of surprised gasp sound and then all of a sudden he was kissing me back and he had wrapped his arms around me and I had my arms around his neck. When Erik slowly slid his tongue against mine, a delightful shiver ran through my body. This seemed to stir Erik because he slowly pulled back, and rested his forehead against mine but kept his arms around me. We sat there for a couple seconds watching each other. I was dying to kiss him again but I didn't want to ruin the moment and scare him off. Finally Erik pulled back but not far enough to where he would have to let go of me.

"Please tell me, you didn't just do that because you feel sorry for me." He said it looking down at his lap, and I realized he was afraid of my answer.

I put a finger under his chin and lifted his head so he was looking at me. "Erik I don't feel sorry for you. I did it because I wanted to, because I've been wanting to."

"If that's the truth why were you acting that way earlier, you acted like I repulsed you. Did you see me without my mask on?"

I sighed and kissed Erik again softly on the lips; he kissed me back but didn't get fully into it like before. He wanted an answer.

"No Erik I didn't see you without your mask on, I can barely move my feet let alone stand on them. But, even if I had seen you without your mask on, there's nothing underneath that mask that could repulse me, or make me think of you as a monster."

I could tell my the sad look on his face that he didn't believe me. "I don't really believe that but that's something to deal with later. If you didn't see what's under my mask then why were you acting that way earlier?"

I sighed and pulled back from Erik slightly just so that I could see his face better but he took as my not wanting to touch him anymore because he pulled his arms out from behind me and didn't touch me again. To let him know that he had misunderstood I took his hand in mine and brought it up to my lips kissing it softly then linked my fingers through his and laid our hands on my lap.

"Erik, I acted that way earlier because I'm confused, because you confuse me. I've gone back over everything that happened since I got here in my mind and all of the different things that have happened and I don't know if they were actually you; or"

I stopped there, I knew that Erik didn't remember the things that had happened when he was the Phantom but I didn't know if he knew the Phantom even existed.

"Or what love?" he said slowly running his free hand down my face and neck in a soft and loving caress.

I smiled softly and had this eerie premonition that everything was about to change. "I don't know if during those times you were…you or "The Phantom."

By the look on Erik's face I could tell he knew exactly what I was talking about. His eyes got wide and all of the color drained from his face.

"No, no this can't be happening again." He said softly just loud enough for me to hear.

***********Authors Note:*****************************

Sorry cliffhanger guys. I hope you liked this chapter. I have a couple things I wanted to let you guys know.

This story will eventually be mature rated; it will have sexual scenes in it. So those of you who may be minors or who aren't into that type of story, this is a warning for you guys.

I have a computer again so I will be updating frequently once more, daily...maybe weekly depending on how busy I am.

I hope you guys enjoy my story and please review. Happy Holidays!


	16. Chapter 16

Erik's eyes welled up with tears and they began to fall down his cheeks. The next thing I knew Erik had let go of my hand and had turned his back to me, I could tell that he had his head in his hands. I couldn't hear it but I could tell from the shaking of his shoulders that he was sobbing. And I thought my heart ached before. I had never seen a man break down so completely before.

I scooted as far forward as I could trying to ignore the throbbing in my feet. I reached forward to touch Erik softly on the back. "Erik" I said softly.

He jumped up like I had burnt him. "No! No, don't touch me. You can't touch me. "He looked like a crazy person. His eyes were puffy from crying and his face was red. I could tell that this wasn't the Phantom but I didn't know if this might be a different personality coming out. "Erik" I said again softly.

All of a sudden Erik grabbed a suitcase out of the closet and started throwing my things inside it. "Erik, what are you doing?" I said trying to think of a way to calm him down without hurting him or myself.

"You can't touch me, if He's back that can only mean one thing. If you touch me, he…I might hurt you and that's the last thing I want, I can't let that happen again. You have to leave; if you stay God only knows what I'll end up doing to you without even knowing it. You're in danger around me. I have to take you back before I make the same mistakes again."

He was seriously starting to scare me, he was himself but it was like something inside him had broken. Physically he was the same man but in every other way he was a completely different person.

"Erik, what are you talking about? I know you want to protect me and I appreciate that but I can't go anywhere I can't walk, I can barely move. And I don't honestly believe that you or….anyone else would really hurt me."

"Are you stupid? You don't believe that he…I would hurt you! Come on, what has he done to you so far Sara. I'm sure he's hurt in some way, judging by the red mark on your cheek I'm guessing he slapped you; you've got bruises on your arms that make it look like he pinned you down. Did he rape, God please tell me I didn't rape you?"

By this time I had tears streaming down my face. I couldn't even imagine how Erik felt but I knew how I felt and the things that I had been thinking and how I hadn't honestly tried to fight the Phantom off but I couldn't tell him that, I was embarrassed. I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me.

"No, Erik you didn't rape me….it got close but he stopped…you stopped. Look, you can't take me back, have you forgotten about the storm, we both already almost died out there. If it's between going back out into that or dealing with the Phantom. I'd rather deal with the Phantom."

"Don't you get it? Even as myself you don't want to be around me. I lied to you Sara; I've kept you here out of selfishness. The tunnels down here can take you anywhere you want to go in the city you just have to know which ones to use. We can get back toy our hotel easily. I was just so damn lonely and then all of a sudden this beautiful amazing woman shows up literally on my door step and one look at her and boom I'm in love. You think I would have learned my lesson but no I was stupid enough to think that he was gone but all it took was couple of days of suppressed arousal and sexual frustration and he's back ready to do what I couldn't and do it by any means. I won't do this again Sara, I won't have your blood on my hands….I just…I just can't." Erik rested his head against the opposite wall, I could see his whole body shaking and this time could clearly hear his sobs.

I didn't know what he was talking about, but obviously he… the Phantom had hurt someone before but oddly I wasn't scared for myself. I honestly did not want to leave. One; because even though I knew virtually nothing about him, I was falling in love with Erik and Two; I was afraid that if I left him alone like this he would hurt himself or worse. But I knew that I didn't have a choice. I had to go. For his sake, because if the Phantom did do something to me, Erik would never be able to live with the guilt or himself.

"Erik, come here. Please." I held my hand out towards him even though he still had his back to me. I was half expecting him to refuse to be within a foot of me but to my surprise he turned around and slowly walked back over to the bed and sat down next to me. Without a hesitation I pulled Erik to me and kissed him. At first he hesitated but after a second he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back whole heartedly. But after a couple moments he pulled away.

"I'll go. If, if that's what's you want." I said laying my hand on his. Erik leaned forward and kissed me softly on the forehead before resting his against mine. He spoke softly. "I don't want you to go. But I need you to. I don't want to risk something happening to you, I can't. But, this isn't over. Give me some time. Time to get things straight, I'll get this fixed, figure it out. I'm not going to let him ruin my life or anyone else's. Not again."

While Erik was talking I began to feel sleepy and he finished just in time for me to hear everything he had to say before I feel into a deep sleep.

I woke up in my bed in the hotel in my favorite pair of comfy pajamas with fresh bandages on my feet and head and a beautiful red rose on the pillow beside


	17. Chapter 17

So after waking up here in my room, the first thing I did was grab this journal to write down everything that had happened. It hasn't been easy though because the storm is still raging outside and the power is out here in the hotel but Erik left candles lit and left me flashlights within reach.

It's kind of creepy being in here by myself though, I have no idea where my family is and can't get up to look for them.

I don't know what to do about Erik either. He asked me to wait for him and I have no problem doing that but I don't see how he could possibly get rid of the Phantom. Also, after writing down everything that happened and sort of re-living it I realized that bringing me here didn't really fix anything. What's going to stop the Phantom from using the tunnels to get to me here. Ugh..this horrible image of Erik tying himself to his organ just popped into my head. I realty hope he doesn't go to such an extreme.

There are two things I have come to realize though. One, I have to figure out what I'm going to tell my family. They're going to want to know where I was, how I got hurt and how I got back. And obviously I can't tell them about Erik so I need to come up with something to tell them. Two, it is going to be extremely hard to continue working on the opera house when I can't walk. Hopefully, I'll think of something.

8/2/10

Erik was here. He was here and I didn't even know it. I must have fallen asleep while writing because when I woke up my journal was locked and on the night stand next to me, there was a hot bowl of soup and crackers on a tray by my bed and another beautiful red rose on my pillow.

I don't understand if Erik is still going to be coming by to take care of me then why I couldn't have just stayed with him.

Wow. I just realized that the storm stopped. I can see out the window a clear blue sky. No rain, nothing flying around in the wind. The family will be looking for me and could be here any second. I need to figure out what to tell them. I could tell them that I got caught in the storm on my way home and got hurt and was helped by another guest of the hotel and that they have been helping me every since and that I haven't been able to get hold of them because I didn't know where they were.

8/3/10

The past 24 hours have been extremely busy. The family finally found me. I just went ahead and told them the lie I came up with. I never actually expected them to believe that but they went right along with it. They took me to the doctor to get checked out. Everything was fine. The doctor said my feet were healing well but that I would have to be taken around in a wheel chair for a while. I haven't been able to go to the Opera House yet and Erik hasn't been back. It's almost like he never existed.


	18. Chapter 18

8/5/10

I woke up this morning to the streets covered in snow. It looks so beautiful out. I sat by my window for an hour looking out, thinking. I replayed my time with Erik over and over in my head trying to see if there was something I could have done differently, something I could have done to help him but I don't see how I could have.

My parents have agreed to take me down to the Opera House today. I am tempted to try to find my way back down to Erik's but I know that being in a wheel chair that would be damn near impossible. I also know that the only reason why my parents have agreed to take me in today is because we're having auditions today and they have no idea what they are doing. This is going to be an extremely long week of auditions. I need to find an orchestra, dancers, actors, singers. We also need stage hands, costume and make up artists. We need a composer. I'm worn out just thinking about everything that needs to be done. But I'll feel better being in Opera House then I would being here in the hotel. At least there I have some chance of getting a glimpse of Erik.

8/5/10-8:00pm

Wow, now I know how the judges on American Idol feel. I don't understand how some of those people actually believe that they are good singers. 90% of the singers we auditioned today were tone deaf, 7% of them had good voices but needed a lot more training than what we could give and the other 3% were exactly what we were looking for.

Next we auditioned dancers. This was pretty much the same. Before auditioning the dancers I stood, as best I could, and made it clear that in order to be chosen you had to be a ballet dancer. We were NOT looking for anything else; anyone who was not trained in ballet was welcome to go before we started the auditions. I hoped that this would thin out the crowd. No such luck, only maybe 10 people left, leaving another 80. My French must not be as good as I thought it was because I had people going up on stage and break dancing, and doing every other type of dance besides ballet. But we ended up finding the 30 dancers we needed.

Tomorrow, we audition actors. We put flyers up around the city…we'll I didn't, the family. We made sure they said that anyone auditioning for our theater group was too come in with a monologue already prepared. We'll see if that's actually what happens.

The family and I went out to dinner afterwards and I told everyone that I have decided that we are going to hire 40 actors total. Then for each production we put on we will have auditions among our actors and decide who will play what roles. We're not going to have one set leading actor or actress for every production. Everyone will have a fair chance.

I have a feeling that Erik is gone. Completely. I know that if he had been in the Opera House he would have made his presence known for the auditions after he is my partner but he wasn't around. I didn't get a glimpse of him all day; no feeling like someone was watching me, no accidents. If I wasn't in the wheelchair I would think that maybe the whole thing was a dream.

8/6/10

Auditions for actors went fairly well. Everyone had their monologues ready. We didn't have any bad actors; it was just a matter of weeding out the great actors from the ones who are just ok. We had a couple of our singers and dancers return and audition again, they all did very well and it has been noted in they're files that they can do both or for some all three. It was fairly good day. The only problem we had was fielding questions about the opera house all day.

See, I decided that I didn't wasn't anyone but the family and construction workers to see the inside of the opera house until the grand opening so we rented out an auditorium across town for our auditions. I know that people were disappointed but I really don't want there to be rumors going around or for things about the new and improved opera house to leak out.

It's been days since I saw Erik or felt his presence; I don't think he's coming back.

**********Author's Note***********************************

Ok guys I know it's been a while, I'm very sorry. Also, I know that this wasn't a very long post but it's just a filler really the next one will be longer. So I just decided on how I really want this phic to go but its kind of different from what I was originally thinking so I don't know how you guys will feel about it but I guess we'll see about that when the time comes. Also, I want to give you guys a choice. I can do one of two things:

I can "flash forward" to when Erik…"returns". You won't really be missing anything just the rest of auditions, the finishing of the Opera House, the preparations for the first production of the season and preparations for the grand opening. These will just sort of be filler chapters.

Or I can not "flash forward" and write those filler chapters and it may be a while until Erik is seen again in the phic.

What do you guys think? What would you rather.


	19. Chapter 19

11/10/2010

I can't believe its been three months since the last time I wrote. I just haven't had the time. We got thought the rest of auditions, finished the opera house and began working on our first production. I decided that our first show of the season would be The Phantom of the Opera. It seemed pretty fitting. Of course I'm the only one who knows just how fitting it is. Well really I can't take all the credit Jazmine was the one who suggested that this be our first show. I thought about it and decided that I wanted to talk to the family as well as all of our employees about it at once.

I had everyone gather in the theater and explained to them that I thought that doing Phantom was a great idea but that if we were going to do this show then we were each going to have to give it our all. There was no way that I was doing to do this and have it look amateurish. If we were going to do it, we were going to do it right. Everyone agreed with me whole heartedly.

Through all of this I had to work on getting out of the wheelchair and walking again. It proved to be extremely painful and very difficult but I got through it. I walk fine now, the only evidence that I ever had a problem are the scars on my feet.

Those scars are the only thing that keeps me from believing that I imagined Erik, that I imagined the whole thing. I haven't heard from or seen him in more than three months. Either he wasn't able to get the Phantom under control and he left to keep me and the family out of harms way or he did and just didn't bother to come back.

Either way I've done my best to forget about him, I try to act like he never existed but every once in a while I catch myself looking up into the rafters for him or stopping by the door leading down to the basements that I know keep locked. (I purposely threw the key away so that I wouldn't be able to get down there.)

But, everything is going great. Our first show is tomorrow and we're ready for it, beyond ready. The cast is amazing; you would have thought that they had been working together for years. The Opera House looks amazing. It's perfect, better than I ever could have imagined. We're going to have Phantom playing 5 days a week for a month and then we'll start getting ready for our next show. We haven't even opened yet and every show, every day is sold out for the next three weeks.


	20. Chapter 20

11/12/2010

I still can't believe it. It's been 24 hours and I'm still in shock.

The show went perfectly, beautifully. The looks on the people's faces as they came through the doors into the lobby were priceless. Everyone was talking about how beautiful it looked and how the opera house looks better now then when it originally opened. I was so excited for everyone to get into the theater for the show to start. I couldn't stand still.

I spent the whole day telling myself that no matter how much we prepared there was no way a grand opening and first show of the season were going to go off without any hitches so I prepared myself, something could and most likely would go wrong. I told myself to be ready for it but the pep talk proved to be useless. Everything went smoothly. We opened the doors an hour before the overture began. We had cocktails and hors d'oeuvresserved in the lobby. I also had pictures of the original opera house put up in the lobby so that the patrons could wonder and look at all the photos. We blocked off the stairs and had a violinist playing softly in the back round. Now a days going to the theater isn't as big a deal as it should be. We made it a big deal. Everything was formal, no one was allowed into the show that wasn't dressed appropriately for it. No jeans or tank tops everyone was dressed up, it was a beautiful sight from where I watched upstairs.

After the show I had the cast go and stand out on the staircase as the patrons left. They loved it; I definitely think we'll continue to do that.

Once the building was empty we had a huge party for the employees. We had caterers, music, drinks and signed play bills for everyone so that we would remember our first open night together. This is something else I've decided to do with every show we do, I think it's a great token for us to all have. I'm going to have them framed and put in my office and bedroom.

By 11:00pm the adrenaline from the excitement of the day started to wear off and I was getting sleepy so I headed to my room. (The whole family has been living in the Opera House for about a month now, the dancers in the dormitories for about a week.) I had finally gotten to the point where I could go into my room without staring at the mirror waiting for Erik to come out of it.

I walked in setting my signed bill aside so that I could have it framed in the morning. I undressed slipping into sweat pants and my Opera Populaire employee shirt. (Another token we had made up for the employees. They look like baseball t-shirts and are different colors. On the front is says Opera Populaire _. Then your title some of them say cast member, others say musician, or stage hand. Mine says Opera Populaire Theater Manager and then on the back the persons last name. I really like them and the employees loved them.

We had already had several meetings to try to decide what our next show should be but I still hadn't finalized anything. I didn't want to do the same types of shows over and over. We had done a musical so now I wanted to do something completely different. My theater class in high school had done a play called Bus Stop so I had ordered the script and rereading it to see how I felt. I was taking noted as I went along. Anything that came to mind; costume ideas, lighting ideas, which of our cast members I could imagine playing each part when all of a sudden there was knocking at my door. I didn't think twice about it. I assumed it was one of my family members so I yelled "come in" with out even looking up.

I heard the door to my room open but no one spoke or came into the room. I looked up and had to do a double take. Standing before me was Erik but he looked completely different. He had no mask on, his hair was shorter; a buzz cut, and he was wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. I was speechless except for the one word that came out as a whisper… "Erik."

**************Author's Note****************************************************************

Alright guys, what did you think? Of the chapter, the pictures, everything.

I liked the idea of adding the pictures, makes it more visual but I feel I do have to add that none of these pictures are my own they are ones that I happen to come across. How do you guys feel about them? Should I add pictures through out as we continue from here on out or could you do without them?

Also, I tried to find a website that would let me design the type of baseball shirt Sara mentioned but I couldn't find any website that would let me copy and paste so sorry, I tried.

This was I feel a pretty important chapter. Erik's back..YAY! So I'm gonna be counting on several reviews before I post the next entry.

Thanks guys,

Jess


	21. Chapter 21

**********Author's Note********************

I know it's been a while but I was trying to wait for more reviews but I haven't gotten any and I don't want to make anyone wait any longer. So here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy. And please, please review.

I still couldn't believe it. Here was Erik standing right in front of me…without a mask on, it was crazy. He looked incredibly handsome but it was just weird not seeing that ivory mask covering half his face. After a few minutes I realized I was still sitting there staring with my mouth wide open in shock. Finally, I snapped out of it and spoke.

"Erik, I…I didn't think you were coming back." I said trying desperately not to stare.

Erik smiled softly, but did not come fully into the room. "We have a lot to discuss, and I have a lot of explaining to do. Could we go somewhere else, I know that it is late but maybe we could go get a drink or some coffee. Yes, that sounds like a good idea, get dressed…..please."

I had opened my mouth to tell Erik that he could not waltz back in here after months of being gone and start making demands. When I saw the pained look cross Erik's face and heard him say please, I shut my mouth deciding to let it go for now.

"Sure, we can go somewhere else. Just let me change. I'll meet you in the lobby." I said standing up and walking to the door to shut and lock it behind him as he walked out.

I met Erik in the lobby 5 minutes later, wearing jeans and a grey sweater with grey knee high boots. I had recently cut my hair into longer layers with bangs and had decided to pull it back into a pony tail, I thought it felt more casual and I didn't want it to seem like I had tried to dress up for him.

Erik and I began to walk down the street towards the little coffee shop on the corner. "So I know this is a stupid question but how did you get into the building after the show when we had already locked all the doors? Is there a broken window or door somewhere in the building that I need to have fixed?"

Erik snorted, and shook his head as he walked beside me. "You're right that is a stupid question. First of all, I was in the building before you locked the doors. I've been in the building since the doors opened; I watched the show and then stayed behind after everyone left. Second of all, if I were going to sneak into the building I wouldn't have to break anything. I lived in that building the majority of my life; I know how to get in and out of it very well. You of all people should know that"

"Yea, I guess your right. So….where have you been?" I sat in the chair that Erik pulled out for me on the patio of the coffee shop.

"Look this will be a lot easier if you just listen and let me explain…everything. If after I'm done, you still have questions, I'll gladly answer them. Ok?" Erik said after he came back with our coffees.

I shook my head and looked at him, indicating that he could begin whenever he felt ready.

"I'm sure that you have many questions about me and my life. How I came to live in the Opera House, why I wore a mask, what the fire and the kidnapping in the Opera House have to do with me, about…..him, the Phantom. I'm going to try and explain all of these things as best I can and hopefully you won't be running away from me by the time I'm done. I'll start from the beginning, before I was born…just bare with me."

I nodded, but did not say anything. I was eager to finally hear Erik's story.

"I know you read the articles about the original opera house, about the kidnapping, the killings, and the fire. Well, all of those things were caused by my great great great grand father. He was born in 1825, here in Paris with a deformity on the right side of his face. The skin looked like he had been in a fire and stretched from his hairline down to his chin. The skin was so transparent that it was almost see through. The skin of his nose was bubbled and scrunched; it didn't even look like a nose. Because of this deformity his mother hated him. She abused him, physically and mentally. When he was 6 years old she took him to the traveling circus that was in town and left him there. She gave him to the owner of the circus. He spent the next 7 years in that circus, where he was shown off to the customer's, he was known as the Devil's Child and was further abused. When he was 13 he killed the owner and escaped from the circus, he would have been caught and killed by the police if a little girl by the name of Annette Giry had not helped him. She snuck him into the catacombs of the Opera Populaire where she lived and studied. My great grand father lived in those catacombs for the next 32 years. He could not leave for fear of being caught and for fear of getting Annette in trouble. During his many years in the opera house he read about everything he could get his hands on, he was a genius, in all subjects but especially the arts. He loved music; he had the most beautiful voice and could play almost any instrument. The opera house was his home and his playground. As he got older he made his presence known to the inhabitants of the Opera House and eventually came to be called the Phantom of the Opera. All of the years of abuse had turned him into a bitter, angry, soulless man. He had an incredible temper and when people did things in the opera house that he didn't approve of, he killed them. In 1861 when my great grand father was 36 years old a young orphan girl named Christine came to the Opera House to study ballet under Annette's guidance, who was now the ballet mistress for the Opera House. Erik saw this girl and instantly loved her; he spent the next 9 years teaching this girl to sing, teaching her about music and how to use her voice. With every day that passed by he fell more in love with her, became more obsessed. In 1870 Christine began singing for the Opera Populaire and a childhood friend Raol came back into her life and they ended up engaged. This made my grand father insanely jealous, murderously so. In his head he believed that it was Raol who was keeping Christine from admitting that she loved him and that as long as he was around, Christine would never truly be his. He kidnapped Christine and took her into the catacombs of the opera house to the very caves where I brought you. He hoped that Raol would follow and he would have the opportunity to trap and kill him. But, his plan didn't go perfectly. In the process of kidnapping Christine he also started the fire that would consume the building and turn the building into what it was when you first arrived. Also, when the opportunity came to kill Raol, Christine caught up in her own emotions kissed Erik and because of this he could not kill Raol and he let them both go. A mob followed the trio down into the dungeons destroying them as they went, when they reached Erik's lair, Christine and Raol had escaped, but the men in the mob assumed he had killed them and they in turn killed him. But, there was one fact that was unknown to everyone but Erik and Christine. It was that when Erik first kidnapped the young girl, he raped her. A month after Christine and Raol's "escape" the couple found out that Christine was with child, Raol of course assumed that the child was his but when the baby girl was born with black hair, soft as silk and emerald green eyes Christine knew the truth, although she took that fact with her to her grave.

That baby girl was my great great grand mother. After having the baby and realizing that Erik was her father, I assume that Christine must have been thrilled that her precious child had not been born with Erik's deformity. My grand mother, Rose as she was named, lived a normal happy life, with her mother and "father" in a little village outside of France. It was in this village that she met my great great grand father, Luke. They married and moved to Paris where my Grand father worked as a black smith and my grand mother as a piano teacher, as it turns out she inherited her father's musical abilities. My great grand mother was born in 1901 in Versailles, she lived there her entire life; my grand mother was born there in 1921. When she was 18 she married my grand father Ralf and they moved to Paris and had my mother in 1951. My mother began working at the Louvre when she was 20. This is where she met my father. They married in 1973 and had me 8 years later.


	22. Chapter 22

The bits and pieces of the first 10 years of my life that I can remember were wonderful. I loved my parents more than anything in the world. I went to the Paris School of the Performing Arts from the time I was 5 until just after my 10th birthday.

The Performing Arts School was right down the street from the Opera House. It is still there today, many of your dancers graduated from that school. The school was my home five days a week, the other two we're spent with my parents and grand parents in our family home in the country. The story of the "Opera Ghost" was a very popular one at the school even after so many years had gone by. No one knew that I was a direct decendant of the "ghost." The story about my great great great grandfather had always frightened me, I was afraid that I would turn out a deformed murderous lunatic like him. My parents had always assured me that this would not be the case. How very worng they were.

When I was 10 I made the biggest mistake of my life, one that would alter not only my destiny but those of my family and almost everyone I knew. It was the spring of 1981 and my friends and I were all sitting out on the lawn of the school just before night fall. They were all discussing the Opera Ghost as usual, I just laid in the grass beside them and listened.

They always chided me because I never showed interest in the subject and never joined they're discussions on it. I was already in a foul mood that day and was not up to being made fun of, they thought that the story scared me, which of course they were right. After a few minutes of them continually mocking me I had had enough and finally the secret I had been holding in my entire life came out.


	23. Note

Ok guys, I know that it has been since I have posted but you have no idea how busy I have been. I'm working two jobs and going to school. Its nuts! But the last few chapters had some negative-ish reviews so I want to clear some things up. I know that this story is no longer Phantom-ish but I never intended it to stay that way. This wasn't meant to be an exact copy of the story. It's supposed to be different. And I will admit that I don't have the whole story planned out in my head yet and I have no idea how it will end but I'm just sort of going with the flow and seeing what comes to me. So far I really like how the story is going.

I understand you guys are probably confused but it will all get cleared up. So to answer some of you guys' questions:

Question 1: So, this Erik wasn't the real Erik? Yes, this Erik is a descendant of the Erik that we all know and love. Remember this story is set in present time, if I had had the original Erik he would have had to have been either hundreds of years old, a ghost, or Erik having come forward from the past and all of those options seemed kind of cheesy to me, I wanted something different. I know this may be confusing now but let me continue with Erik's story and it'll all make sense.

Question 2: Why was he wearing the mask in the first place? I'm getting to that in the story. Again bare with me, as soon as Erik's story is told you will understand.

Question 3: Where are the pictures you mentioned? This one was really a bummer I spent ours doing research online looking for the perfect pictures to give you guys visuals of everything in the story from the opera house, to the characters but after all that work I put into finding the pictures I found out that I couldn't add them to the story on Fan Fiction, I don't know if there is a way to and I just cant figure it out but I couldn't get them to show in the story. Then I tried to put them all as a review so you guys could at least see them that way but that didn't work either. If anyone can figure this out, let me know and I will be more than happy to put them up.

Question 4: When is the next chapter coming out? I actually had the next 3 chapters all typed out and ready to go but my computer crashed and they got erased so I have to re-type them all. But I have plenty of extra time today so I plan on giving you guys a nice long update. And trying to get things to a place where everyone will know what's going on and be on the same page.

Question 5: This one isn't really a question but a statement. I liked him better in the lair more phantom-ish. Again, I never meant this to be a carbon copy of the original story I always planned on moving things out from under the opera house (that's not to say that we won't return there at all.)

This one seems to be pretty unanimous.

Question 6: Erik, a buzz cut? WTF.

Yes this is a hard concept for all of us. I get it me too. I thought about it long and hard but doing that but it coincides with the way I want the story to go. Once Erik finishes his story it'll make sense. But for now, I'll say this. When I started writing Erik's return to Paris, I wanted to make him seem like the complete opposite of the Phantom, this isn't the Phantom that's coming back, it's Erik, a new Phantom free (for the moment) Erik. And that seemed like a great way to do. The Phantom and a buzz cut just DO NOT go together. I know that a lot of you disapproved with that decision but I really thing eventually it'll make sense.

So, again I know it's been forever, I'm truly sorry it's been son long, I've missed writing, posting and reading your reviews terribly. I'm going to truly try to do better and post more often. I know things have taken a weird and confusing turn but I hope you guys won't give up on me. I'm dong my best and I really feel that if you guys bare with me, you'll love this story as much as I do. Just remember this is my take on the story that we all love.

For those of you still with me or who are returning to me, thank you, you guys are awesome! Send me some love. Also, you can email me any questions, comments, anything at 


	24. Chapter 23

"I was so angry that I just couldn't control myself. I blurted everything out, the fact that I was a descendant of the "Opera Ghost", that my family actually held the title for Opera Populaire, that in fact the "Phantom of the Opera" had some how managed to become the owner of the Opera House."

"My friends sat there, opened mouthed staring at me until finally one of them spoke up. "It all makes sense now, that's why you never wanted to talk about it, why you've never snuck into the building….." Franz stopped mid-sentence with a look on face that showed that he had clearly just had an idea, you could practically see the light bulb turning on in his head. "Wait a minute, if your family owns the Opera House, its not sneaking in, not if you're with us. You own the place! Come on lets go now. We can finally go down in to the cellars and explore!"

"This was the last thing I had expected to hear. I stood up and tried to leave saying that I couldn't go in there. But my friends they, called me chicken and coward. You know how boys that age are I had to save face, so finally I agreed."

"It was the biggest mistake of my life. One that would change everything forever, change me forever."

"We all hopped on our bicycles, my three friends and I and rode over to the Opera House, next thing I know we had broken a window and climbed inside. I was terrified, my fear of becoming like my great great great grand father had always kept me away from the Opera Populaire and now I was walking through the tunnels leading to the very place where he was killed and had killed himself."

"Finally after what seemed like forever we reached the cave, the very cavern where you and I spent those days together. There were still things down there, furniture, a half sunk gondola on the edge of the lake and the most magnificent of all…. An organ built carved right into the wall of the cavern. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I too like my grand mother before had inherited my namesake's musical gifts, the one good thing to come from his life."

"While I was lost in my own thoughts, my friends were busy playing on the shore of the lake, spraying each with what they thought was water but was in actuality oil that had been used for the chandeliers and candelabras. Franz sprayed me with the hose hitting much of the right side of my body. When all of a sudden another of my school mates Edward comes running from upstairs with a lighter lit, and a paper mask over part of his face screaming "I'm the Opera Ghost and I will burn this place down, again!"

"Everyone laughed even me, when all of a sudden Edward trips over something on the floor and the lighter hits the ground lighting a fire on the ground. The place lit up before we even knew what was happening."

"I still see it in slow motion in my minds eye. Everything burning, Franz running by me his whole body lit up in flames, trying to make it to the water of the lake, Edward lying on the ground screaming. After that all I remember is the pain, the unbearable pain. After I passed out, I would come to and as soon as the pain registered once more, I would slip back into the darkness."

"When I finally awoke for good, I was in a hospital room. The searing pain from before was not a sharp throb. My parents were huddled in a corner of the room crying, and whispering amongst themselves. I tried to speak but realized I couldn't, I was moving my lips but nothing was coming out. When my mother realized I was awake she came running to the bed but instead of embracing me like I thought she would, she started to shake me, screaming in my face. "Erik what have you done, you took those boys there and now they're dead and you, you've become a monster!" She grabbed a mirror from my bedside and put in front of my face so I could look at myself. I remember is trying to scream, scream like I never had before, this...this was worse than the pain of being burned. The face looking back at me was not mine; it was the face I had always seen in my nightmares. The whole right side of my face was charred skin, holes. I hadn't been able to speak because my throat was burned, my lips were scarred. That was the day I became the monster I always knew I would become. That was the moment I stopped being Erik and became the Phantom of the Opera, just like my great great great grand father."

I was so enthralled with Erik's story that I had forgotten where we were. I slowly realized that we were still sitting outside the coffee shop at eleven o clock at night, the coffee shop had closed.

Erik was watching me with a smirk on his face and sadness in his eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't run away yet." He said leaning forward.

"Erik, I'm not running anywhere. None of those things were your fault. Granted you shouldn't have gone into the Opera House with those boys but they were pretty damn stupid themselves."

Erik stared down at his hands, as he spoke. "I know that now, after all these years that they're deaths weren't my fault, I was just a child. But for a long time I felt like they're blood was on my hands. And that wasn't the last time either. For a long time, years the Phantom had control over my mind and my body, I lived in those catacombs where my life changed, I fixed the caverns, restored them and anyone who snuck into the Opera House fell to his, our mercy. Until one day three years ago, a young homeless girl about 15 years old snuck into the Opera House looking for somewhere warm to sleep and the Phantom decided that if she wanted to stay warm, he could make her warm. He…..I….we…. kidnapped her and brought her down to the caverns….."

At this point Erik began to sob, his head in his hands. All I could do was scoot closer to him and pull his head down to my chest and hold him there, let him cry. Finally after a few minutes he stopped, pulled his chair around the table away from me and continues, holding back his emotions as best he could.

"He raped and abused that little girl for days on end. There were moments when he would fade into the background of my mind. And I would be myself again. At these times I didn't remember any of the things I had done, I didn't even know he existed until I found the little girls body by the lake shore. He had, had his fill of her then strangled her. It was then that I realized the truth, I realized what I was, what I had done."

"I tried to kill myself but I couldn't do it. I was a coward. But I did manage to force the Phantom back into the recesses of my mind and I became myself again. The last time I had been fully aware, fully conscious, myself was that fateful day. 10 years had passed. I had hurt and killed God only knows how many people. But I was finally rid of the Phantom, that is until one day two and half years later when I was waiting in the rafters of the theater for the new owners of the Opera House to arrive and in walked the most beautiful women I had ever seen, and in that moment I instantly fell in love, instantly wanted her more than anything I had ever wanted in my life. And because of that want, that need that I ignored, for the most part, even though I had you right in front of me in my house, that ignored need awoke the Phantom inside me once more. And I began to loose control again which I was I had to bring you back up to the outside world and had to leave, had to go as far away as I could. Because I refused to have your blood on my hands too, I refused to hurt the only person I had loved since I was 8."

I sat there after Erik stopped speaking, crying…. No not crying bawling, sobbing. I didn't know what to say do or think. All I could feel was the sadness and guilt rolling off of Erik and hitting my like a wave of water. I felt terrible for everything he had been through, for the life he never got to have, and that because of me he had become his nightmare once more.


	25. Chapter 24

Erik sat there staring at my wide eyed as I cried my heart out for him. Finally, after of about 5 minutes I had no tears left and managed to calm myself down. I was able to speak.

"Erik, finish the rest of your story. Where did you go when you took me back to the hotel, what happened to your mask, to the burns, to him?" I said all at once wanting to having everything out in the open once and for all.

Erik took a few deep breaths as though preparing himself. " After taking you back to the hotel and checking on you a couple times to be absolutely sure that you would be alright, I went to southern part of the country near the beach and checked myself into a mental institution. I got help, I spoke to a psychiatrist, took pills for my depression and insomnia, and went to a plastic surgeon. I spent two and a half months in that place, speaking to the psychiatrist, telling him everything I just told you. We tried everything to get rid of the Phantom. Pills; didn't work made me sick, even more depressed then I already was. Hypnosis; he almost killed the psychologist. Even Electrotherapy; hurt me like hell, made him come out even more strong. Until finally a month in we found out what worked."

At this point Erik stopped, waited for me to look up at him then stood up holding his hand out for me. I took his hand and stood up then followed him as he started to walk away from the café, as we walked he continued to hold my hand, linking his fingers through mine.

I smiled softly and said "So, what was it that finally worked?"

He chuckled softly, looked over at me and said one word, that nearly stopped my heart. "You."

I looked over at him, a soft smile on my lips. "Me, how did I stop it?"

Erik brought our linked hands up to his lips and kissed my hand softly.

"One day when I went into his office for my session he was paceing up and down the room, waiting for me. The second I walked through the door, he was speaking ready to start. "Erik I think I finally figured it out, I don't know how I didn't think of this earlier. I want to try hypnosis again." I can only imagine the look on my face, I told him he must be suicidal, the Phantom had almost killed him last time and would probably succeed this time. But he told me to trust him, that he was 100% sure that he had finally figured it out. Eventually I relented and agreed. He put me under, at first everything was fine, it was me just answering his questions but then bang out of no where out he came. He was calm at first which worked to our advantage. The Dr. was able to ask him some questions, he had him right where he wanted him. Then the doctor started to talk about you, that's when he got aggressive. Talking about the one who got away, the things he wanted to do to you and would some day do to you. The doctor egged him on, told him to give him details, the things he said were horrible, and I could here them. They were so bad that my subconscious started to fight against him. The things he was saying made me so angry, made me feel so protective of you that finally for the first time ever I was able to fight him off. We continued to do this every session, until finally I was able to fight him off completely. Once I was able to do this, the doc prescribed me some pills again. I haven't had an episode as we came to call them in a month and a half, it may not seem like much but it's a start. After three months in the hospital, I had facial reconstructive surgery. They took skin from other areas of my body and used it on my face so that they could remove the burnt, dead skin." I was in recovery for six weeks, but it was worth. I refused to look in a mirror until I was completely healed and when I was finally able to it was like looking at the 8 year old Erik again. I felt great and I knew that I was ready to come back to you. That everything was going to be ok."

We had stopped at a little park and were sitting on the edge of a fountain, Erik had been so caught up in the rest of his story that he hadn't even noticed that I was crying. When he did notice he took my hand bringing it to his lips once more. "Darling, what is it, don't cry."

Through my tears and sobs I managed to say " Its all my fault." He lopoked at me like I was crazy. "What is your fault Mon Ange?" he said using his old pet name for me as he slowly wiped the tears from my eyes. " The only reason HE came back in the first place was because of me, if I hadn't been in the opera house, you wouldn't have had to go to a mental hospital, you wouldn't have had to leave your home."

Erik started to laugh, he actually started laughing, like I had never heard before. "Are you insane, Are you crazy? If it wasn't for you I would have been stuck in that Opera House lonely and depressed for the rest of my life. You saved me. Meeting you, was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It was my love for you, that helped me fight him. If wasn't for you I would have never had the courage to leave Opera House or go to get the help that I've always needed. I would have never had this surgery. I would still be a monster." As he said this last part he pulled out his wallet and pulled a picture out from it and showed it to me.

It was him before the surgery, without a mask on. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Half of his face showed the beautiful Erik that I had fallen in love with and the other half showed the monster hidden inside him. The tears slowly began to fall again. He took the picture back, looking at it and said "I keep it to remind of what I was and what I would have always been if you hadn't come walking into the Opera House. And to remind of what I will never let myself become again." He took my hand and pulled me up, and started to dance with me right there in the park by the fountain and whispered in my ear, "You my love, made me human again."

By this time I was having a hard time holding back the sobs but as he slowly began to hum the same tune I heard the first time we met, the tears stopped and my body relaxed into his and all that was left was the feeling of his arm around me, his body pressed to mine and the beautiful tone of his voice.


	26. Note 2

Alright Guys,

I'm seeing tons of hits and visitors to the story but I haven't gotten any reviews. I'd really like to know what you guys think of where the story left off. I'm not sure if I should continue or leave it at that. What do you guys think? I had some awesome! Loyal readers before I hope I haven't lost you guys. Leave me some love. JessB


	27. Chapter 25

11/14/2010

Erik and I stayed like that for a long time. Swaying softly to the tune he was humming. It was beautiful, a moment I'll always remember. As relaxed as I was with my cheek resting against Erik's I knew that the moment had to end. We still had a lot of things that needed to be discussed so with a heavy sigh I slowly pulled out of Erik's embrace and sat back down on the edge of the fountain. Erik smiled softly taking my cue and sat down beside me.

I turned towards him, so we were facing each other and reached over taking my his hand in mine; lacing my fingers through his. "So what happens now, you're the rightful owner of the opera house. Will you move somewhere…above ground, what happens with us?" All of the things on my mind came wooshing out my in a single breath.

Erik chuckled softly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. "Do we have to solve all of the problems of the world tonight?" he said playfully.

I smiled, " Well, not all of them no, but I think some of those questions definintly warrant an answer."

Erik sat up straighter, his face suddenly serious although I could tell he was trying to hold back his laughter. " Well as it just so happens I have all othose questions already figured out and answered. Being, the genius that I am, it was reallyt very simple to figure out."

I raised one eyebrow, looking at him skeptically. "Being the genius that you are, really? Well seems that cockiness was really yours all along and had nothing to do with them Phantom." I laughed at the playful wounded look on Erik's face as I said this.

I watched as slowly a wide devislish grin spread over Erik's face. He scooted closer to me on the bench of the fountain, whispering. " Cocky hmmm, you know I'd say your right I am very…. "cocky."

It took a second for Erik's meaning to sink in. But when I finally did realize what he was saying I couldn't help but blush. "Erik!" I said playfully slapping his arm.

Erik laughed loudly, putting an arm around me and pulling me closer. "Your blushing my dear, and I have to say its very becoming. But, we really should get to the serious business and continue this part of our conversation somewhere more private. As I said I have already figured everything out. Naturally the first thing that had to be figured out was how I was going to introduce myself into your life without your family knowing the truth. So, tomorrow I will show up at the opera house during rehearsal and announce that I am the rightful owner of the opera house, with papers to prove it. Since you run opera house I will make you an offer. Either we can run the opera house together in a legal partnership or I can take the opera house over completely and you and your family can head back to the United States. Obviously you will agree to the partnership and we will work together just as we were before I left. Then in about a week you will make it none to your family that we have begun seeing each other. Just like that two of our problems are solved. We have managed to introduce me into your life without your family having to know the truth about our past and we both get a stake in the opera house that we both love so much. Now as for where I will live I have thought about this one long and hard. I have chosen the option that makes the most sense for me and that I feel I will be most comfortable in for the moment. I have decided to stay underneath the opera house, for the time being. It's my home. I've lived there the majority of my life. It's where I'm the most comfortable. I am sure one day I will move above ground as you put it but if I am to do that then I want to buy a plot of land in the country side and build a house, a house that I designed entirely."

Erik stopped speaking abruptly looking at me warily. "I hope that my wanmting to stay underneath the opera hosue does not change anything. I figure with you living in your room, we will never be too far frome ach other and you can come and go from my home as you please. Your never need know the truth. We can work together as partners and essentially live under the same roof as a couple yet still have some semblance of privacy…. What do you think Darling?"

I took a couple minutes to mull this information over. I hadn't expected Erik to say that he wanted to stay in the catacombs. I thought he would want to shed that part of his life entirely but still I understand why he feels moe comfortable down there. He's right its his home, and once overlook the fact that your underground it is a very noce home. So finally after a couple of seconds I smiled and slowly leaned forward closing my eyes, hoping he would take the hint.

Needless to say, he did and it was amazing how different it felt to kiss him without having the edge of a mask scratching at my face.

It's been four days and things have been great, Erik came to reheasals the following day and things went just as he planned. My family has excepted that Erik and I are now co-owners of the opera house and are glad that I don't have to make all of the decisions alone.

What Erik doesn't know is that my mom has been slyly mentioning how handsome he is and has been implying not so subtly how maybe Erik wasn't brought into our lives simply to be my "business" partner. When she mentions this I cant help but smile. If she only knew.

Well mom will be happy because Erik and I are going out on our official "first" date tonight. Erik has lived in Paris his entire life but this will be his first time truly out in the city. I love the idea of getting to experience all of these new things with him.


	28. Chapter 26

I was kind of anxious about my date with Erik, since he has never had much experience with the outside world he told me that I could decide what we would do. Apparently, he thought it was funny to see me try to decide because as we sat in my room me on the computer looking up different things to do in Paris and him sitting in the recliner across from me, he kept chuckling and grinning.

"What is so funny, pray tell?" I said looking over the monitor at him. As soon as I looked up he quickly tried to hide his grin and act serious but I could tell he was trying to keep back a laugh.

"I find it high entertaining how seriously you are taking this task. It is really not that big a deal what we do love." He said leaning forward in his chair.

I wasn't so sure though. This was our first official date, Erik's first real time out in the city. I wanted it to be special but at the same time I was kind of worried. I know that Erik isn't used to big crowds so I wanted to avoid going anywhere that would be too crowded. I knew that I didn't want to go to a movie, or a museum. I felt that I should probably ease him into that type of thing. Then I came across something that would be perfect. I quickly pulled up the weather channel to check the weather and saw that it would be perfect for what I was planning.

I stood up suddenly, catching Erik off guard.

"Ok, I know where were going. You stay here; I need to run down to your house to grab some things." I said smiling heading towards the mirror to the secret button to open it while pulling my cell phone out of my pocket at the same time.

At first Erik stared at me with his mouth hanging open but then his brain finally seemed to start working again and he grabbed my arm to stop me. "Wait, wait. What are we doing? And you can't go down to the house by yourself what if you wonder into one of my traps, what if whatever your bringing back is too much or too heavy for you to carry you shouldn't make several trips when I can just help."

I turned quickly, snapping my cell shut. I put my hands on Erik's chest, smiling softly. "Ok, first of all I can't tell you what was doing it's a surprise. Second, I've wondered to and from your house plenty of times, I know not to veer off the path. And I'm a big girl I'm sure I can get everything we're going to need back up here just fine."

I watched Erik, looking into his eyes. It was like by looking into his eyes I could read his mind. I knew that he was debating. He was having a hard time accepting this.

I sighed softly; moving my hands up his chest then took his face gently into my hands and pulled him down to me to kiss him softly. You would think that by now he would be used to this but he isn't. Fist his body went rigid in surprise and he gasped softly, then slowly he relaxed wrapping his arms around my waist pulling me closer. After a few moments, he slowly pulled away, resting his forehead against mine. He still had a look of surprise on his face. I had to remind myself that he wasn't used to this sort of thing, that this was his first relationship.

I brought my hand to softly caress the left side of his face. He closed his eyes, relaxing into my hand a small smile on his lips. "Who knew that something as simple as a caress on the face could make you feel so wonderful?" I couldn't help but smile at that. I pulled away slowly bring my other hand down so that I was cupping his face in my hands. I looked up at him, forcing him to look at me.

I took a deep breath steadying myself before speaking. "Erik, I know that all of this is new to you. That you're not used to this sort of thing and I do have to remind myself of that. But this sort of thing, planning a date is completely normal. I know that you've never really had anyone try to do something nice for you but…please let me do this for you. Let me be the first."

Erik eyes instantly went teary. "Your right I'm not used to this, I've never experienced anything like this before. But, I can't help but feel like I should be the one doing this. I know that I'm the one who suggested you decide what we do but I didn't realize there would be so much involved or that it would require so much effort… I should be doing this for you."

"You will Erik, someday you will and I'm totally looking forward to that but for right now there's nothing wrong with me planning something for you. That's the way it works. It's not just you doing stuff for me; it's us doing stuff for each other."

I couldn't help but feel bad as Erik looked down at the ground, seeming embarrassed. "I…I still have so much to learn."

I slid a hand down his face so that I could lift it up so that he would look at me. "Erik, you're never going to know everything there is to know about relationships, no one does. And every relationship is different. It's not only you who has things to learn, I do too. But, I promise to be patient while we're both learning. Ok?"

He shook his head and smiled again, that beautiful smile that I love. "Ok good, now if we don't get a move on we're going to be late so please wait here while I go get the things we're going to need." I pressed one more soft kiss to his lips then pulled away quickly before he could put his arms around me and pull me in for a deeper kiss and distract me.

We both started laughing as I turned and opened the mirror then headed down the path to Erik's house.

I came back up 15 minutes later with my purse, a duffle bag and a basket full of stuff. Erik came running over as soon as I crossed the threshold back into my room. He was obviously not very happy with the fact that I had carried everything back up from the catacombs instead of asking him for help. But, I ignored this and allowed him to take the bag and basket from me as we walked out of my room, through the Opera House and out into the streets.

Authors Note***********************************************************

I'm going to be posting more today.

I'm getting lots of hits but no reviews. Come on guys! Let me know what you think, good bad, anything! I feel horrible that I lost all of my readers.


	29. Chapter 27

11/16/2010

Walking through the city, through the streets with Erik is something that I don't think I'll ever get tired of. It's so fun to watch him taking everything in. You can see all the different emotions that cross his face. But, the most prevalent is curiosity. The way he looks at everything from the people to the store fronts you can tell that he's never really been out in the world before.

It's like we switched roles or something. He's lived here is entire life yet he's asking me about the different places in the city and where things are. It fun getting to introduce him to new things.

We walked slowly down the shop lined sidewalks, holding hands as I pointed different things out to him. But, what he was really interested in was the people. He's never been around people who were out and about just living their lives. It was hilarious just to hear the comments he would make about everyone we walked by; things like "He's seems rather cocky or what is a woman like that doing with a man like him, she deserves better." The best part was when he spoke of how much he loved being able to be able to walk through the streets with me by his side and not have everyone staring at him. This instantly brought tears to my eyes but as soon as he noticed this he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk pulling my to him and kissing me softly.

After a couple seconds he slowly pulled away far enough to whisper in my ear,

"I didn't make that comment so that you would pity me. Don't feel bad for me. There's nothing to feel bad for. Thanks to you that part of my life is over. I will never have to worry about that again. Now, I can walk through the streets with the woman I love and not have to worry about anything. Because of you I can live the life I was meant to instead of hiding in the shadows. But, tonight isn't about me, it's about us; our first real night out together as a couple." I smiled softly at Erik's words, relishing in the feel of his lips on mine as he took my face gently in his hands and brought my face to his for another soft kiss before letting me and stepping away.

Erik winked at me, a smile forming as he took my hand in his and continued down the street. I was awed by him. After everything he had been through in his life after all of the hardships, things that I couldn't possibly even imagine he could still be here in the middle of a crowded street acting like any other normal man. I can only hope that I am half as brave as he is.

As we got nearer to our destination, I slowed my pace down causing Erik to slow too. I took a deep breath looking up at Erik before speaking.

"Before we do this, I want to explain myself. After we do this, you are probably going to think I am a horrible person who only wants to cause you pain but I want you to know that that is not the case at all. I'm doing this because I love you, and I think you should know. I'm also bringing you here because I think it will help you move on… I think it will help us both move on, to our life together. So please don't be mad and whatever you're feeling during and after I want you to share it with me. We'll get through this together."

Erik just stood there staring at me for a couple of minutes a puzzled look on his face. But finally he relaxed, wrapping his arms around me pulling my too him. As he laid his forehead against mine he spoke. "I have no clue what you have planned. But, whatever it is thank you for warning me. I can't promise that I won't be mad but I do promise that I won't make ant rash decisions. I'll tell you what I'm feeling. I know that you wouldn't intentionally hurt me and you're the first person I've ever in my entire life been able to say that about. So, I know that whatever this is, there is a purpose for it." He kissed me softly then continued walking.

After a couple of minutes we arrived at Parc La Villette, a park in Paris where every other weekend they set up a huge projection screen and play movies while people bring blankets and food and lounge around in the grass and watch the movies.

Erik and I picked a spot in the middle of the grass area. He laid our blanket out while I began to pull pillows, food, and drinks out of the bags and basket.

Once Erik and I were lying in the grass talking and eating I could feel his tension falling away. He kept saying how beautiful it was and perfect and how never knew anything like this could be done. I smiled softly to myself, committing the sight of his beautiful smile and the sound of his laughter to memory because after the night was done, I wasn't sure when I would be given the pleasure again.

But, suddenly Erik stopped laughing and the smile fell from his face, the playfulness left his eyes. He was staring at something behind me. Just as I turned to see the movie poster behind me boasting the title "The Phantom of the Opera" the street lights around the park were turned down, the gigantic screen came to life and all I could see was the look of horror on Erik's face.

********************Author's Note*********************************

Ok guys, what do you think? I don't know how I feel about this. Originally I thought it was a great idea to have POTO still be the story we know and love in today's world but now, and I've always imagined what it would be like if Erik was introduced to his own story or in this case to his great grandfathers but I'm not sure. Give me your opinions.


	30. Chapter 28

I watched as different emotions played on Erik's face; first, horror then anger and finally a look of defeat. I watched Erik as he moved so that he was sitting behind me and I was sitting between his legs. He wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me back so I was leaning back against him. After I had settled against him he whispered in my ear.

"I already had to sit to through two hours of this. What's the purpose of sitting here making me watch it again? I hope you know that the only reason I'm still here is because you mean more to me than anything else and I promised you I would stay no matter what. Now can you explain to me why you took a night that was supposed to be special and turned it into a night that I just want to be done with?"

The tears started to slowly slide down my face as the music began indicating the beginning of the movie, I sat there gathering my thought listening to Erik's shallow breathing as flashes of a replica of our opera house flashed before my eyes.

"Erik you just told me the other day that you won't be coming to rehearsals or any of the performances while we're do this show. Erik, its playing all week for the next 3 weeks, you cant just disappear for the next three weeks, everyone knows we work together now and I'm always in and out of the Opera House, they are going to get suspicious if they don't see you around as well especially since they all know we are more than just business partners. You can't avoid this forever. You want to be out in the world well this is part of that. Like it or not this story, your family's story is well known. People all over the world have seen the play or watched the movie or read the book or heard the music. Even after the end of this month, that's not going to be the end of it, your going to run into it somewhere." I had to really focus to keep my voice low enough so no one would hear me; thank goodness the music was definitely loud enough to drown out my whispers.

I waited for Erik to answer but no reply came. I could feel his chest against my back though and I knew he was crying. I turned in his lap to look at him and sure enough there were tears streaming down his face. Using my fingertips I softly wiped them as they fell. Erik took a deep breath in shutting his eyes. He took my hand as he whispered.

"You don't get it do you. You watch this, you hear the music that you grew up with; the music and lyrics you love. You see a man on that screen that you pity; who you feel should have gotten the girl. You what I see when I look at it or when I hear it. I see myself. This isn't about the fact that this story is about my great grand father, no that was me not too long ago. I was that same broken man, that same monster you see on that screen. That up there, that isn't even the whole story Sara, he didn't just kill people, and he tortured them for God only knows how long. If you had been alive all those years ago and wandered into the cellars when it was him down there, he would have killed you, raped you and killed you and God help me I almost did the same."

At this I tried to protest but he wouldn't let me.

"No. Don't try to make it ok, don't try to say that I didn't do it so it's ok, no its not. You have no idea, the things that I thought about doing to you, that I would have done to you if I didn't love you so damn much. The thought of living the rest of my life without you was enough for me to be able to fight it off, to keep myself at least semi in control. But, if it wasn't for that I would have done the same to you as he would have."

All of a sudden Erik started to laugh he was laughing at something on the screen. But, it wasn't a playful or happy laugh it was bitter sounding. I turned to look at the screen. It was the scene when Christine first pulls the Phantoms mask off. And Erik was laughing at it.

"I have to say they did a very poor job portraying our disfigurement. I'd say that's handsome compared to what we really looked like. See, look around you Sara look at these people, they think its some romantic love story but you were there you experienced the real thing, you've seen what I looked like before the surgery. Do you still think it's a love story?'

I sat there looking at him and I knew the answer that he wanted but I wasn't going to give it to him. I wasn't going to lie. "That's not a love story, no. I may have thought it was before but not anymore I know better now. But this, you and me, this is. I know it and nothing you can say is going to change my mind."

Erik just gave me an exasperated look. "You know what, that doesn't even matter. I'm not even worried about what they think. I'm worried about us. What happens when your family realizes the truth? What happen when they find out that, that monster was me. When they find out that I kidnapped you, that you're beautiful body now has scars on it because you had to run away from me or God only knows what I would have done. They're not going to want you anywhere near me, they'll make you leave…and I'll loose you. Who would want their daughter to be with a murdering monster?" At these last words the slowly started to fall from his beautiful golden eyes once more.

I felt so stupid. I should have realized that was what this was all about. I took his face in my hands forcing him to look at me. "Erik, you're not a monster and you're certainly not a murderer. If you were I wouldn't be sitting here right now. Listen to me; no one is taking me anywhere. I love you and nothing is going to change that. I know you and that that is not you. You may have looked like that but that it. There are no other similarities. The things you've done; getting help, having the surgery. The fact that I'm sitting here living breathing proves that that's not you. Stop comparing yourself to him. He was a completely different person. He let his deformity and his psychological problems over come him. He gave in to the Phantom. You didn't. It may have taken you time to finally fight him off but you did it. You were so brave and strong. That man on that screen, that man all those years ago. That was a broken man who used his deformity as an excuse to do horrible things. That is NOT you. I will tell you that everyday for the rest of our lives if that's what it takes."

I could tell he was calming down; his eyes were changing back from dark gold to a softer yellow. He rested his forehead on mine, wrapping his arms around my waist once more. He smiled softly before speaking and making me laugh. "You're very stubborn you know that." I laughed letting the tension lift from my body. "Yes I am, and you have a temper. So, we're going to buttheads a lot." His smile widened at that.

He sighed heavily running his hands up and down my back. "As much as I hate to admit it, your right. I can run away from this forever. I'm still not so sure about me being this saint you make me out to be but I guess that's something I'll have to work on. But you have to promise me that if some how your family finds out the truth you're not going to let them change your mind. I don't want to lose you."

I brought my hand up to caress the now unmarred half of his face. "Erik, I promise you no matter what happens I'm not going anywhere. No matter what, we'll get through it, together. I loved you before, down in those cellars and I love you now."

He chuckled, closing his eyes and leaning into my hand. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that. You have no idea how amazing it feels, to be touched tenderly instead of in anger or disgust. I love you."

I pulled his face closer to mine to press my lips to his as I whispered that I loved him too.


	31. Chapter 29

Eventually Erik got over his issues with the show. He started coming to rehearsals and was there back stage with me every night. But even though he was there with me, he still kept to himself, speaking mostly to me. He only spoke to the others if they spoke to him directly and even then he wouldn't make eye contact. I was afraid that someone would notice his shy behavior so I decided that I needed to do something to help him come out of his shell a bit. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but I was on the fence about whether or not I should actually do it. I knew that if Erik found out, he would feel betrayed and probably never speak to me again. But I knew that no matter the consequences I had to do something to help him.

Erik was still scheduled to go to Versailles to see his psychiatrist once a month so I knew that that would be the perfect chance for me to put my plan into effect.

11/20/10

Erik left this morning. He'll be gone for the next three days. It's going to be weird being in the Opera House without him but I know he needed to and it gives me the time I need. It's Saturday so everyone is off today.

After taking Erik to the airport this morning I texted everyone in the family and told them to meet me in the family room of our parent's apartment.

I got there before everyone else so I was able to take a couple deep breathes and gather my thoughts. Finally, after a few minutes everyone came into the apartment. My parents sat together in the recliner in the corner, my sisters sat cross legged on the couch and my brothers threw themselves down on the carpet in front of the couches, I stood before the, waiting for them to quiet down.

After seeing the serious look on my face they stopped talking giving me they're full attention.

I took a deep breath and started talking, a saying a silent prayer that this wasn't about to screw everything up.

"Ok guys I called you all here because I have something very important to tell you guys. I'm really nervous about telling you guys this but you're my family and I know that I can trust you."

Just as I was about to continue my mom gasps and says "Oh my God, your pregnant!" All of a sudden everyone was talking at once. The vein in my dad's head was suddenly starting to throb; my mom was saying she's too young to be a grandmother. and my brothers were trying to guess what the news was. "Are you guys getting married, are you moving?"

I tried to get everyone's attention but they just ignored me. Finally, I had to yell for them to shut up before they would stop.

After getting their focus back on me I tried again.

"No, I'm not pregnant; Erik and I are not getting married and were not moving. But what I have to say does involve Erik actually its entirely about Erik. The first thing I want to say is that that NO ONE is to tell Erik that I told you guys this. After today we never mention this conversation again. I swear to God if Erik finds out I will never speak to any of you again. Do you understand?"

No one said a word hey they just shook their heads, waiting for me to continue.

"Ok, I'm sure that you guys have all notices that Erik is very shy. He keeps to himself and doesn't willingly talk to anyone but me. Well threes a reason for that. Erik isn't used to having other people around, At all. He…he didn't always look the way he does now. When he was a child he was in an accident that left hid face severely burned and disfigured. Because of this he was treated horribly by everyone, including his own family. It was because of this that… he sort of reverted into himself, he ran away from home and he came here to the Opera House. He has lived here in the Opera House since he was 10 years old, only coming out when absolutely necessary for food and such. He knew that if he was found it would be ok because the Opera House had been left to him, he owned it. So, Erik spent the majority of his life alone, completely alone and because of that he literally doesn't know how to interact with other people."

I stopped here to see what they had to say but no one said anything so I continued.

" I know you guys are probably thinking that I'm crazy or why would I want to be with someone like this and you have every right to think that way, its only natural but I am going to be totally honest with you guys. I love him. I am totally and completely in love with Erik. He may have had an unusual and horrible childhood, he may have his problems but I don't really give a damn, who doesn't have problems? All I care about is the man that I know he is, even if he doesn't. So you guys are probably wondering why I'm telling you this. The main reason is because I want to help Erik. He ahs self-confidence issues, he's not used to being around people and he's just getting used to be out in the world. I'm going to help him and so are you guys."

At this I stopped to see their reaction. Jazmine, my beautiful little sister came up and hugged me to her and said "You're my best friend as well as my sister and I can tell how happy Erik makes you so I will help you in any way I can."

I was so happy to hear this that I couldn't help the tears that came to my eyes, and I couldn't help it as the started to fall when the rest of the family said that they would help also.

As they all settled back down I began telling them my plan. "Ok so when Erik comes back things are going to change around here. Erik knows more about the arts then I ever could so everyone is going to ask him for his opinion and go to him with questions, pretend I'm not even here. Seeing that you guys want his opinion and value his knowledge will help give him some confidence. Also, boys I want you to spend more time with him. Invite him out with you guys, go out and play basketball, go to a bar...something. Not only do I want him to get used to being around people but obviously I want him to get used to being around you guys so I am going to be inviting him to family dinners and instead of spending so much time alone I want us to do more things with all of you guys, individually and as a family. I'm also going to be inviting him to thanksgiving dinner. It will be his first so we definitely need to make it a special one. I want to try and get Erik to enroll in the University with me. He loves to learn about new things so I don't think it will take to much persuasion. If you guys have any ideas just run them by me first."

With that I told everyone to please stick to the plan and hopefully we'd be able to help Erik's transition into o the world.

11/23/2010

I had decided that I wanted to have a surprise ready for Erik when he returned. I had snuck down into the cellars and into his house. I was going to have a romantic candle lit dinner waiting for him.

I wasn't expecting him for another couple of hours so I was cleaning up the house. I was dusting and straightening things, everything except his music room. I had a feeling he wouldn't be too thrilled about me moving things around in there. I brought down a bunch of my own clothes and things with me, I spent enough time down here anyways there was no sense in having to run back up to my bedroom every time I needed something.

I was doing something that Erik would not have liked. I couldn't help but play my Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. I can't help it, even though I know the truth behind it now, I still love the music."

I was in the kitchen checking on the roast in the oven humming along to Music of the Night when all of a sudden two strong arms came around my waist pulling me back against a hard male body. Of course, I immediately knew who it was. I turned in his arms slowly expecting him to be angry because of the music but he had this huge smile and there was playfulness in his miss-matched eyes.

It was so good to see him. I couldn't think. He literally made my mind go blank. Finally, I was able to stammer something out.

"Erik, you weren't due back for another couple of hours." He stood there just staring at me dragging his hands slowly up and down my back. Then he seemed to snap out of it. He kissed me on the forehead, wrapping his arms tighter around me, pushing me back against the counter as he slowly caressed my skin with his fingertips.

"I couldn't stay away any longer. I missed you too much and I wanted to surprise you. But apparently you had the same idea." He said gesturing at the food, spread all over the kitchen.

"I was planning on surprising you with a candle lit dinner, but now it's ruined." I said pouting a bit.

Erik chuckled picking me up easily and setting me on the counter, he stood between my legs smiling. "Darling, nothing was ruined. Coming in to find you this way was an even better surprise. Do you know how...how it makes me feel to come home to find that the woman I love has cleaned the house, has moved her own things in, and is making me dinner, planning on surprising me? I… I don't even know how it feels. There are no words to describe it except to say that it makes me incredibly happy and it made me realize that I want to come home to you everyday for the rest of my life. "

His words brought a huge smile to my face and I slid off the counter wrapping my arms around him. I lay my head on his chest inhaling the wonderful smell of him and marveling at the feel of his strong arms around me. I nuzzled my face into his chest before speaking. "I missed you so much; I am so glad your back."

I could feel his lips curve up into a smile as he pressed his face into my hair. "I have missed you to Angel, so much. You have no idea, three days away from you felt like a lifetime. I hate being by myself even more now. I never want to be anywhere with out you again."

I lifted my face to his smiling as he brought his down to catch my lips in a searing kiss. I gave myself a few moment indulgence before pulling away completely.

"I love you but you need to get out now. Go unpack or watch TV or something so that I can finish dinner."

He laughed as I pushed him out of the kitchen shutting the door behind him.


	32. Chapter 30

It took me another half hour to finish dinner, and then I readied the dining room; turning the lights down and lighting dozens of candles. As I carried the food into the dining room I could hear Erik in the living room playing away on his organ. He was playing a soft haunting melody, I actually had to stop what I was doing to listen to him he was playing so beautifully.

Finally, I was finished. As I pulled Erik into the threshold of the dining room he stopped in his tracks his jaw dropping. He slowly scanned the room taking everything in, the soft flickering from the candles, the music quietly playing in the background. But most of all I could tell he was enjoying the aromas coming from the dinner I had made us. There was the pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and rolls as well as salad. I had gone all out; I really wanted this night to be special for us.

Through out dinner Erik I talked softly. I asked him how his trip went, he asked me about my weekend, and we discussed various things about the Opera House. There was never an awkward silence just continuous discussion and the more we talked the more I realized what a great sense of humor he had, he was hilarious. I also realized that whenever I spoke of the things that my family and I did together he got this sad sort of look in his eyes. But I knew that soon all of that would change.

"Erik, there's… there's something I want to ask you. I don't know how you're going to feel about this but I really hope that you'll say yes. It would really make me happy. I don't know if you know this but next week is Thanksgiving and my family still plans on celebrating it so I was hoping that you would join us." I watched for his reaction, this was sort of my little test for him. As much as I loved Erik, I still wanted to be able to live a normal life, I wanted us both to be able to live a normal life and if we were going to spend the rest of our lives together then eventually he was going to have to develop some sort of relationship with my family.

Erik stayed quiet for a few moments; he seemed to be mulling the idea over in his mind. I could tell by the look on his face that he was particularly fond of the idea. I decided to explain my reasoning behind wanting him to come thinking that maybe he that would convince him.

"Erik, if we're going to be together, really be together if we're serious about spending the rest of our lives together then spending time with my family is just a natural thing. It's a part of life. You said yourself that I gave you the chance to have a normal life, well there's nothing more normal then spending Thanksgiving with your girlfriends family. I really want to do this. Please."

I don't think he had even heard a word I had said he seemed to be lost in his in thoughts. "Fine Erik I'll tell you what you go into the living room and think about it while I clean these dishes." I picked up what I could and headed into the kitchen with it.

It took me about 45 minutes to get the dishes washed, the kitchen cleaned and the dining room set back the way it was and the entire time I didn't heat a peep out of Erik. I was trying to calm myself, trying not to be mad. I had to keep reminding myself that I had known this wasn't going to be easy. I knew Erik's situation, I knew why he was so frightened of spending any real time with my family. But I knew that I couldn't just give my family up because Erik couldn't bring up the courage to spend more than a few minutes at a time with them.

After finishing everything up I rested my back against one of the counters closing my eyes trying to catch my breath and calm down before going into the other room to confront Erik. I didn't want us to have an argument and I didn't want him tot feel like I was forcing him to do something he wasn't ready for. So, I decided that I would go in there and ask him one more time and if he still wasn't sure then I would let it go and I would just have to go by myself and he would spend that night alone.

As I walked into the living room I saw that Erik had started a fire in the fireplace and was sitting in his favorite chair. As I came around to face him I could see that he was just staring into the flames still lost in thought.

I came over and slowly sat myself in his lap, straddling him. This brought him out of his thoughts as I had expected it would. Aside from kissing we had tried to keep from touching each other too much, I think we had both made a silent agreement to take things slow. Erik slowly brought his arms around my waist as I rested my hands on his chest. I lifted his face so that he would look at me.

"I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you to do more than your ready for. If you don't want to do this then you don't have to. I just thought that it would be nice to have all of the people I love together for Thanksgiving but your well being is more important than that. So I can just go myself. It's ok."

As I said this Erik shook his head softly. "It's not that I don't want to. I love the idea of spending the holidays with you and your family. I would love to be considered part of the family. But I….I'm scared. I've never actually had a conversation with any of them. I've never had an actual conversation with anyone other than you and my psychiatrist. What if they don't like me, what if I say the wrong thing? I haven't really been in that kind of setting since everything changed what if someone says something to set me off and he…he comes back..

I thought that this might have been at the root of his insecurity but to hear him say it and look so frightened by the very idea broke my heart. "Erik, love that's not going to happen. He's gone and trusts me I'm pretty much positive that there is nothing my family could say that would make you that angry. We're just going to have dinner, hang out and spend sometime together. We don't even have to stay all night. I want my family to get to know you. I want them to see the side of you that I got to see tonight. They should have the chance to see the funny playful Erik instead of the serious brooding Erik."

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul well Erik's whole face was the window to his soul. His very emotion plays so clearly on his face that it's so easy to tell what he is thinking.

Finally he slowly shook his head. "Ok, I'll do it. I'm terrified of the very thought but I'll do it because I love you and thought of being considered part of the family out weights my fears.

I smiled wrapping my arms around his neck pulling his to me. As our lips met he wrapped his arms tighter around my waist pressing my body tightly to his. We hadn't been in a situation like this since my first time down here. We had tried to keep ourselves from getting into any kind of overly sexual situation and where I had placed us directly into one.

I could feel Erik's arousal growing, could feel against me and in that moment I realized I wanted this. I mean why not. We were to consenting adults who were dating, who were in love and who obviously wanted each other. We were alone in Erik's home there was nothing to stop us. Erik apparently had the same train of thought as I did as he slowly brought his hand down my backside squeezing gently then slowly sliding his hands up into my shirt, running his fingertips along my back.

I moaned into his mouth loving the heated feeling his touch left on my skin. I brought my hands down to his chest and began unbuttoning his shirt. As I opened it, I ran my hand slowly over his chest stopping as I felt the scar on his side from where they had taken skin to do the skin graphs. I fought off the sadness the thought brought to mind and focused on the wonderful things Erik as making me feel.

Next thing I knew Erik had pulled my top off and was looking at with the most devilish grin on his face, he was looking at me like I was something to eat. As I leaned in to kiss him once more I couldn't help but slowly grind my body against his. This brought a moan out of Erik that sounded more like a growl. It was the sexiest thing I had ever heard. Liking that sound, I began to push my body harder into his. I could easily feel his arousal now.

Out of no where Erik grabbed my hips hard, stopping me from moving any longer. He pulled away from our kiss, looking at me panting trying to catch his breath. "You Darling are the biggest tease. Do you have any idea how badly I want you right now?"

And with that Erik stood up, taking me along with him. But then next thing I knew we were down on the carpeted floor in front of the fire. Erik was on top of me kissing me, grinding his hips into mine. I pulled his shirt off, running my hands over every part of his body I could reach.

Just as I reached down to unbuckle Erik's pants. The last thing in the world that I could have ever expected to happen did. It happened out of no where. All of a sudden it was like I was having a flash back. All I could see what a white mask on top of me forcing himself on me, that horrible laugh ringing in my ear.

My whole body went rigid. It was like someone had hit my off switch. I pulled away from Erik scooting across the floor. I sat there my chest heaving, trying to catch my breath. I knew that the phantom was gone that the man across from me was Erik, my Erik but I wouldn't get that image that laugh out of my head.

Erik slid towards me on the ground, wrapping his arms around me holding me to him. It's like he knew what had happened without me even having to say it. He just held me until my body finally relaxed. "Its ok baby, I shouldn't have brought him up at all. You were right that's not me anymore. I would never hurt you."

I just sat there curled up in Erik's lap, my head on his chest. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get that laugh out of my head.


	33. Chapter 31

I must have fallen asleep in Erik's arms because when I woke up I was laying in my bed in my room with my pajamas on. The lights were turned down low and I could just make out the outline of Erik sitting in a chair by the foot of my bed.

He was slumped down in the seat his head hanging back as his chest rose and fell softly as he slept.

I sat up and reached over to the night stand where I kept my journal and pulled it out to write this entry.

I don't know what happened to me. One minute there wasn't anything in the world that I wanted more then Erik and the next thing I knew all I could focus on was that laugh. I don't understand what happened. Erik and I have been fine. He's fine, the Phantom is gone. I know that, I don't doubt it. I don't know if I just got nervous and I just psyched myself out or what but I know that I want Erik and that I want to be with him so I have to find a way to fix this.

11/25/2011

I was really nervous about how Thanksgiving would go being that it was the first time that Erik would spend any real time with my family, especially on a holiday. But I have to say it went perfectly.

I got up early yesterday and headed up to my parents apartment to help my mom start cooking. I tried to get Erik to come with me but he wouldn't budge on that so I had to settle with him coming up with me later on in the afternoon after I went back to change and shower.

My mom, my sisters and I all spent the majority of the day cooking. The delicious scents of all of the foods we were preparing wafted through out the opera house. We made all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, and I made my homemade pumpkin pie.

All day I was just a ball of nerves. I was really excited that Erik and I were going to be able to spend the holidays together but at the same time I was nervous. I warned everybody that Erik might be quiet ad shy through out the night and encouraged them to do what they could to get him to talk to them and participate.

Eventually the time came for me to go back down to my room and get ready. When I walked into my room I noticed a note sitting on top of my vanity table, I picked it up fearing the worst; Erik had chickened out on me. But, the card read:

Darling,

I know this is lat minute but instead of coming up and meeting you to go up to your parents together go on ahead without me and I will meet you up there. I have to run out real quick but I shouldn't be there too long after you.

I love you,

Erik

I put the letter down wondering where he could have possibly gone but I pushed the doubts out of my head telling myself that he had promised to come and that he wouldn't let me down.

I showered and curled my hair then changed into this adorable beige and black dress that I had bought specifically for that night.

Erik had never really seen me dressed up. For our dates I usually just wore jeans and a cute top or a skirt and a cute top but tonight I wanted to go all out. I even bought some cute heals to wear.

Finally, once I was ready and had checked myself in the mirror I headed up to my parents apartment.

My mom and sisters and I finished the cooking while we waited for Erik to arrive. As a half an hour passed and Erik still hadn't shown up I began to worry. Either he had chickened out on me or something had happened to him. Luckily, my mom and sisters were so busy getting things ready and my brothers and dad we're all busy playing the Play station that no one even seemed to notice that Erik hadn't arrived and they didn't notice as I slipped out the door and headed back down to my room.

I opened the mirror slipping through quickly and racing down the tunnels heading to his house.

I found Erik standing in front of a mirror in his bed room with dress pants on and a blue shirt. He was holding two ties up looking back and forth between them.

I walked up behind him slowly but he was so concentrated on the ties that he didn't even notice. He jumped when I spoke.

"Erik, love what are you doing?" I said softly as I came up next to him looking at the ties in his hand.

Erik gave an exasperated sigh and threw the ties onto a huge pile of ties on the bed.

"I… I'm sorry I know I'm really late and you probably thought that I changed my mind but I… couldn't decide what to wear. I haven't had to decide what to wear since I was eight years old and even then I didn't have much say in the matter. I don't even know how to tie a tie. Are you sure you wouldn't rather be with someone who's more…I don't know normal. I haven't celebrated a holiday in years, ours is the first relationship I've ever had. I'm going crazy just because I'm about to have dinner with people that I see and work with everyday. "

The look on his face brought me to tears. I stepped in front of him, wrapping my arms around his waist and looked up at him.

"Erik, I don't want or need normal. The only thing I want is you. I don't care about any of those things and I knew about all of that coming into this relationship. And it's ok to be nervous, I'm nervous too. I've never had a boyfriend over with family like this. So we're both experiencing this for the first time together."

Erik smiled as he wrapped his arms around me pulling me closer to him. The next thing I knew he had me back up against the mirror and his hands were placed on the mirror on either side of me and he had pressed his body flush against mine. I shivered at the look of sheer desire on his face but laughed at the evil grin he gave me when he leaned into kiss me. As we kissed I wrapped my arms tighter around him.

After a few moments Erik pulled away slightly enough to be able to whisper in my ear. "Do you know how gorgeous you look in that dress? You look absolutely delicious." I smiled saying thank you as I leaned in to kiss him once more.

I was really getting into it and couldn't think of anything else but how much I wanted Erik until he reluctantly pulled away and put some distance between us.

"As much as I want to continue this love if we do I can guarantee you that we'll be spending the next several hours in bed and therefore miss your parents Thanksgiving dinner." Erik laughed; I could only assume that he was laughing at the look of shock on my face.

I had gotten so caught up in Erik that I had completely forgotten why I had come down here in the first place.

Erik walked over picking up a handful of ties and held them out to me so that I could pick one.

I laughed softly. "Darling, I know you want to look nice but you don't need to wear a tie. Dress pants and a button up shirt are fine. Really even that is a bit over dressed."

I walked over and began to button up his shirt as he ran his hands through his hair to get it back into place.

Finally fifteen minutes later we made up to my parents'.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly. When we arrived I made Erik go into the living room while I helped in the kitchen.

At first Erik sat there not speaking, just watching my brothers play. I got so preoccupied with the cooking that eventually I stopped watching Erik until about twenty minutes later when I heard him laughing loudly.

I looked up stunned as I saw Erik playing a skateboarding game with my youngest brother.

I couldn't help the huge grin that came over my face. Erik was playing play station laughing and joking as if he had been doing it for years.

I didn't notice the tears that had started to fall until my sister came over and hugged me softly. I hugged her back but never took my eyes off of Erik who at that moment looked back at me.

As our eyes connected I realized that Erik had tears in his own eyes and I had that feeling again that we could tell what the other was thinking.

Because as Erik mouthed the words "I love you" I knew that he was thanking me.

This was the first Thanksgiving that I've ever really felt like I had something to be thankful for. But, more importantly it was the first time in twenty years that Erik felt like he had something to be thankful for.


	34. Chapter 32

Ok guys I just wanted to let you know that I posted some links up under my bio on my profile. Those will lead you to a picture of what I imagine Sara to look like and what I imagine Erik to look like. There also are pictures of the baseball shirts that I spoke of earlier in the story and of the dress and heels that Sara wore on Thanksgiving.


	35. Chapter 33

The next morning when I woke up I found a letter from Erik with a beautifully wrapped box beside it.

I knew that Erik had come into my room in the middle of the night through the mirror but I'm normally such I light sleeper that it's weird that he didn't wake me.

I unwrapped and opened the box to find a beautiful necklace with a heart pendant; the outer heart and chain shimmering with diamonds.

I sat there stunned staring at the necklace. The first though to enter my mind was that there was no way I could accept a gift like this, it must have cost a fortune. I lay the necklace back in the box and opened the envelope, pulling out Erik's letter.

Darling,

I know that after seeing my present you are intending on giving it back to me and saying that you cannot accept it. Don't even think about it. I've been thinking about giving you this necklace for a long time but hesitated because I knew that you would react this way.

But after yesterday I knew that it was right and that I had to give it to you. Think of it as a thank you gift from me, a thank you for the amazing things that you have done for me.

First of all, for wanting to be around me, let alone in an actual relationship with me. It still boggles my mind to think that I have an actual girlfriend. That word seems so foreign to me it is not a word that I ever thought I would use.

Yet here I am in a relationship with the most amazing woman I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

Second, for allowing me to be actively involved in the opera house that I love so much. It is something that I never thought I would be able to do freely out in the open.

And most of all for making me feel like I belong. I know that I belong with you; I know that we belong together. And yesterday being with your family eating, laughing, spending time together I felt like I belonged there like I was meant to be part of the family.

For all of these things I will always be eternally grateful to you. There is nothing that I could ever do for you that would compare to the things you've done for me.

I love you and fully intend on spending everyday of the rest of my life making you as happy as you've made me.

Erik

It wasn't until Erik came in through the mirror and wrapped his arms around me that I realized that I was crying. Everything that he had said in the letter was mirrored on my own feelings. I felt like Erik had opened so many doors for me, like I was now experiencing so many things with him that I never would have experience with out him.

He sat there holding me, whispering to me until I finally calmed down enough to sit up and thank him but before I could speak he was taking the necklace out of the box and unclasping it so that he could put it around my neck.

I fully intended to tell him that I could not keep the necklace until I saw the huge smile on his face and then I realized that Erik had never experienced anything like this. He had never been in a relationship with anyone to have known the joy that can come from giving things to each other.

And in that moment I knew that I couldn't refuse him, I wanted to see his face light up just like that everyday forever.


	36. Chapter 34

12/15/11

I can't believe these passed few weeks have gone by so fast. We've been so focused on getting ready for our new production and I've had to be studying for finals that Erik and I have barely even seen each other. But, I've heard from the family that he is really making a lot of progress. He talks with everyone in the company giving advice and giving his opinion. Everyone really likes him; they say that he is a strict but fair boss.

I don't know what I would do with out him. If I had had to run the theater and study for these finals I think I might have killed myself. I'm barely getting three hours of sleep a night as it is.

Not only has he been putting in about 13 hours a day in the theater but he also helps me study at night. He's even been helping all the brothers and sisters but their studying, we have a study group every night.

I would never tell him this but he's actually really intimidating. I mean, he knows something about everything; he has to be the smartest person I think I've ever met. He actually makes me feel kind of… I don't know not stupid because I know I'm not stupid but he makes me feel like I'm not as smart as I think I am. Not only is he smart but he's a great teacher. I actually understand what he's helped me study in math. No teacher has ever been able to help me understand math. Erik did it within a few days. It's amazing.

But anyways, it's almost Christmas and I am so excited! This will be Erik's first Christmas. He helped us pick out a tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We actually cut down our own tree this year. Like physically cut it down. That was a great night.

We all went out to dinner then headed out of town to a specific area of the forest where you can cut down Christmas trees. We actually ended up getting 10 trees. One for the parents apartment, one for my brothers and sisters apartment, one for my room, a big one to put in the lobby of the Opera House, several other small ones to put around the Opera House and I even convinced Erik to get one for in the catacombs.

Truthfully it wasn't even that hard to convince Erik. I just had to mention all of the quiet nights alone we could have with the beautiful tree ad a nice warm fire going in the fire place. That certainly warmed him up to the idea. Also, the fact that we would be able to decorate that tree by ourselves.

Cutting down 10 trees is a lot harder then you would think, especially when you have six grown men with you. Well, it wasn't quite as easy as you would think. Erik was actually able to cut down a few of the smaller ones by himself.

That was actually pretty…entertaining to say the least.

While Dad and the boys were working on cutting down one of the bigger trees. Erik took me by the hand and pulled me away from the group into a cluster of trees saying that he wanted to cut down a smaller tree for my apartment. Next thing I knew Erik was unbuttoning his shirt in the middle of the forest in about 20 degree weather.

Before I could ask him what the hell he was doing he threw his shirt at me to hold as he said that it was easier for him to cut down the tree if he didn't have to worry about ripping the shirt.

I stood there watching as Erik hacked away at this five foot tree like it was nothing. With his shirt off I could see the muscles in his back and arms rippling as he lifted and swung the ax. I'm guessing that he assumed that because it was pretty dark out I wouldn't be able to the scars that covered his back but I could and it killed me to them. Hundreds of them, big and small but even those couldn't distract me from having some…naughty thoughts as I watched him cut that tree down.

It took him about ten minutes to cut the tree down. But I was so engrossed in watching those muscles and in my own head that I didn't even notice that he had stopped. I don't know what kind of expression I had on my face but it must have betrayed my thoughts because next thing I knew Erik had a huge smug grin on his face.

As he realized what sort of things I was thinking about and that grin spread over his face he took my hand and pulled me to him, kissing me.

I assumed that because he was standing out in the cold with no shirt on that his skin would be cold but it wasn't. He was completely warm in fact it was like his hands and arms were radiating heat as he wrapped them around me. He was so warm and it felt so good to be pulled against his bare chest that I couldn't help but let out a small moan.

Erik chuckled as he pushed me up against the trunk of one of the trees. He put his palms flat on the tree trunk on either side of my head encircling me in his arms. As he pulled his lips away from mine, he stood there staring at me, his chest rising and falling quickly with his hard breathing.

He had this look in his eye. The only word I can think of to describe it is mischievous. It's the sort of look he had in his eyes when the Phantom took over. I couldn't help but shiver, not because I was afraid but because with that look in his eye I could imagine exactly the kind of things that were running through Erik's mind.

We hadn't really gone any farther than kissing….a lot, since Erik had come back. But with that look in his eye I knew Erik was thinking about doing a lot more than just kissing and I can't deny that he was the only one.

Erik kissed me softly before speaking. "I know that ever since I got back, we've sort of danced around this subject after everything that happened with…him. But, I have to say that right now there's nothing that I want more than I want you."

I was speechless. I didn't know what to say. I was just sort of caught up in the moment; caught up in all of the things that I was feeling, in everything that Erik was obviously feeling, caught up in the way his arms felt around me.

He chuckled softly. "Your blushing Darling and I have to say it's not making me want you any less." And with that he made this sort of growl sound and kissed me once more. But this time wasn't like our other kisses. This was hard and possessive more like the kisses I had shared with the Phantom. But this time we both wanted it, and we both knew it.

If we had continued like that, I have no doubt that Erik would have taken me right then and there.

But that didn't happen because all of a sudden we heard the rest of the group calling us and coming our way. We had to quickly pull away and Erik had to re-dress himself.


	37. Chapter 35

12/22/11

I didn't think that anything could cause as much tension between Erik and I then the Phantom had but now I know that I was very wrong. Ever since that night that we cut down the Christmas tree the sexual tension between Erik and I has been so thick you could practically cut it with a knife. It's all I can think about, images of that night keep flashing through my mind and from the way Erik looks at me I can tell that he is thinking about it too.

Finals are over so I am spending all of my time in theater which means that Erik and I are working together for at least twelve hours a day. I am so surprised that no one has noticed what is going on between us because even though most of the time during the day Erik and I dealing with separate issues or working with different departments I can always feel his eyes on me, just like I can help but search the room for him every few seconds.

Apparently he has decided to drag this out and make it torturous because when no one is around or no one is looking he will quickly push me up against the nearest object and give me one long passionate kiss before disappearing before I am even able to open my eyes.

But sometimes it goes a little bit further. Like yesterday, I had to get some paperwork from my office so I left rehearsals to go into my office real quick. I didn't know that anyone had even seen me sneaking back stage but as I walked into my office Erik pushed in behind me and the next thing I knew he had me pressed up against the office door with both of his hands pressed against the door so that I was in between his arms and his body was within inches of mine.

I ran my eyes over him slowly noticing how he seemed to be breathing hard. I give him a small seductive smile while speaking "Well this seems familiar."

Erik chuckled as he ran one of his hands through my hair then down my neck slowly. "Why yes it does. How about we pick up where we left off." And with that Erik pulled me into a hard kiss, his tongue sliding smoothly against mine.

I moaned rather audibly, putting all of my pent of tension into the kiss and before I knew it I had unbuttoned Erik's shirt and was running my hands over his chest. I felt Erik shudder slightly as I ran my fingertips over his skin.

I felt the heat radiating off Erik's skin as he literally ripped my shirt open. I prepared to feel the heat from Erik's hands on me right away but all of a sudden he hesitated. He continued to kiss me but his hands became hesitant.

I pulled away from the kiss slowly taking deep breathes. "Erik. You... can't stop now. Touch me…please." Erik gave a guttural moan sound at my words but still didn't move touch me.

I took his hand and placed it on my waist before leaning in to kiss him, this time not as hard but still passionately.

Erik's hand still didn't move, he continued to kiss me for a few moments but then pulled away. He rested his forehead against mine catching his breath before whispering "I came in here fully intending to kiss you for a while then take you down to the house so that we could do this before anyone noticed we were gone but now that we're here I don't want it to be like this. I don't want to have to rush. When I make love to you for the first time, I want to be able to take my time and take it slow. I don't want it to be a quick ten minutes between rehearsals, I want to be able to be in bed with you for hours if we so choose."

I smile, nodding my head. "As much as I hate to admit it you're right.

Erik chuckled, "Don't look so put out Darling. Trust me I don't think I'm going to be able to wait much longer. I want to make love to you." And with that Erik gave me one last long kiss then moved me away from the door before opening it and heading off down the hallway to the stage.

I stood there rooted to the spot for a few minutes trying to calm myself down but nothing worked. I tried counting to ten, tried slowing my breathing, tried to think of something else but nothing worked. Finally, I decided to take a quick cold shower but that did not thing but make me cold and wish I had Erik's arms around me to keep me warm.

As I came out into my bedroom with my towel on, I saw the mirror from the corner of my eye. Ever since Erik came back I had been getting dressed and undressed in the bathroom just in case he happened to be behind the mirror but now it was my turn to make him suffer. I let the towel fall to the ground, just in case he was back there and watching, I walked to my closet and stood there deciding what to wear. I chose a black mid-thigh length skirt with a red v-neck cut sweater and black vest. After putting on the close I studied myself in the mirror. The outfit was perfect. The skirt was just short enough to show enough leg to drive Erik crazy but was still long enough to be modest and the sweater was cut low enough to show some cleavage but not enough to have my dad or brothers shooing back in to change. I then chose my black knee high boots knowing that the sight of these would kill Erik. I let my curled hair fall down my back instead of picking it up.

I smiled to myself as I left my room and when I saw the look on Erik's face as I came back into the theater I knew that Erik was seriously contemplating throwing me over his shoulder and taking me to his bed right then and there.


	38. Chapter 36

Needless to say neither of us could really focus on our work for the rest of the day. Not only could I feel Erik's eyes on me the whole time but some of the other guys in the theater were looking as well which I knew was really driving Erik crazy. I just hoped that it wouldn't make him to angry and that he would be able to control himself.

I know that I was playing with fire and tempting fate but I couldn't help it. Erik and I had been dancing around this subject for so long and the truth is that I don't really want to wait anymore and clearly neither does Erik.

When I let everyone go for the end of the day I realized that Erik was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared. I walked around asking everyone if they had seen him. Apparently my sisters had noticed the little game that Erik and I were playing. They gave me knowing smiles as I came towards them asking about Erik. "Are you kidding, with the way your dressed? He probably went to one of the bathrooms to…ummm relieve himself." I couldn't believe that she had that. I chastised her but I knew that it didn't really hold any wait when I was blushing.

_I _started to head towards my office planning to open the mirror and head down to Erik's house but considering my sisters words I stop in my tracks. This wasn't really something I wanted to be thinking about but what if she was right, that really wasn't something that I wanted to walk in on and I was sure Erik wouldn't appreciate that either.

So I went ahead into my room but did not head down to Erik's. Instead I pulled out all of the Christmas presents that I had bought to start wrapping them.

An hour and a half later I felt the rush of air as the mirror slide aside and Erik stepped through the threshold into my room.

Luckily, I had already wrapped all of his presents and was working on my brothers. He sat down on my bed watching me silently for a few minutes before getting up and coming up behind me to rub my sore shoulders softly.

"I was expecting you to come down and see me, what happened?" This immediately brought forth mental pictures that I certainly couldn't mention but my blush gave me away.

"What, what is it? Why are you blushing?"

I tried to shake my head and say it was nothing but Erik wouldn't let up he kept asking me until finally he turned my chair around to face him as he sat back down on my bed.

I knew that he wouldn't give up now. I took a deep breath before speaking,

"I was going to come down to look for you until… until the girls said something that made me reconsider it. They said that seeing me dressed the way I was probably made you want to go find someplace to be alone...so that you could… umm relieve yourself."

I was blushing so much I could literally feel my face head up. I couldn't believe I had just said that, couldn't believe that I had just told Erik that the girls and I had talked about that, that the though of him doing that had even entered my mind,

To my surprise Erik started cracking up. He was literally having to hold his stomach because he was laughing so hard.

I sat there shocked watching him; I had never seen Erik laugh so hard. Finally, after a couple of minutes he stopped.

"That's... that's why you didn't come down. Even if you had come down and I had been doing something like that you wouldn't have seen anything. I was expecting you to come down remember. I would have gone into a locked bathroom or bedroom."

This shocked me even more then Erik's reaction.

"You mean…you... do, do that…while thinking of me?"

Erik laughed softly grabbing my chair and pulling me towards him so that I was essentially sitting between his legs. "Darling, do you have any idea what you do to me? Just looking at you turns me on but seeing you dressed the way you were and touching you makes me feel like I'm about to burst. I have to release all of that pent up energy someway. Does that bother you?"

I look down at my feet, unsure of what to say. Erik sat patiently waiting for me to collect my thoughts. Finally after a few seconds I spoke. "It's not that it necessarily bothers me it's just that it's not something I've ever really talked about, it's kind of a taboo subject. It's not really normal to talk about something like that. It's more of a private thing."

Erik smiled. "Well, our relationship has never been normal, has it? But don't worry love... We won't talk about it again."

With that Erik stood and leaned down towards me so that his mouth was near my ear "But now you must know how badly I want you and I don't know how much longer I can wait." And with that Erik kissed me. This wasn't a tender kiss it was the type of deep sensual kiss that takes a while to recover from.

But I even knew what was happening Erik had pulled away and was walking back through the mirror.

I sat there for a while recovering and all I could think was that with the thoughts I had been having lately I was surely going to hell.

11/23 11pm

I can't believe that I have been sleeping for the past twelve hours. So much has happened since my last entry.

After Erik left that night I couldn't focus enough to finish wrapping presents I need to relieve some steam some other way. I was trying to think of what I could do to take my mind off of Erik when my eyes landed on my keyboard, its case sticking out from underneath my bed.

I smiled, playing and writing a new song was the perfect way for me to focus on something else. I hadn't told Erik that I wrote songs or that I could sing or play any instruments. That was sort of his thing and not only that but I never told anyone about my music. Everything in my life was about my family I had never had anything that was only mine. Except for my music it was the one thing in my life that no one could change or take away from me. I knew that everyone else had gone home so this was perfect time for me to work on the assignment that my music teacher had assigned us for over the holiday. I refused to play in front of the class so my teacher allowed me to record and video tape myself playing my songs so that he could grade them. He would assign us a subject and we would have to write a song about it. It could be anything something as generic as write me a love song or write a country song or it could be more specific like write the song you would write if someone you loved died. This assignment was one of the more specific ones. We had to write a song about being in love with someone who you knew loved you back and who you knew wanted to be with you but every time they came close to admitting always backed out at the last second.

I pulled my keyboard out along with my guitar and got my journal where I kept all of my songs.

I sat for a long time gathering my thoughts thinking about what it would be like to love someone who was too afraid to admit that they loved you back. I wrote down any phrases or words that came to mind. Slowly after a while I pulled my keyboard to me and began to play the melody in my head.

It never even crossed my mind that maybe Erik hadn't gone back home.

Finally, after two hours my song was done. It was eight o clocks at night and I hadn't eaten dinner yet, I hadn't even moved off my bed in the past two hours. My hands hurt and my neck felt cramped. But I had written a song that I could really identify with. It was one of the best songs I had written in a while.

Here are the lyrics:

Dark cloud movin in

Just one fall of rain

Would wash away

Wash away, the pain

Just one ray of sun

To warm my skin

And rid me of the cold you're drowning in

Chorus:

I could say that I don't care

But the truth is I'd follow you anywhere

I've been waiting such a long long time

Don't you dare

Change…your mind

It seems so close to me

But still beyond my reach

Calling me and playing hide and seek

Look behind that door

I'm the one you've been searching for

And I'm not a little girl…anymore

Chorus:

I could say that I don't care

But the truth is I'd follow you anywhere

I've been waiting such a long long time

Don't you dare

Change your mind

Don't wander around looking for someone to replace me

Don't wander around wastin the rest of your life

Don't wander around waiting for someone else to save you

And do you make the same mistake…twice

Chorus:

I could say that I don't care

But the truth is I'd follow you anywhere

I've been waiting such a long long time

Don't you dare

Change your mind

I could say that I don't care

But the truth is I'd follow you

I've been waiting such a long long time

Don't you dare

Change…your mind

Don't change your mind

I played the song one last time to myself making sure that it sounded perfect. Just as I finished I heard the sound of the mirror sliding open and in stepped Erik with a look of shock on his face. He had been watching… and listening the whole time.


	39. Chapter 37

Erik and I stared at each other for a long time neither of us saying anything.  
Finally, Erik came all the way into the room and sat on then bed once more.

"We have been together all of this time and you never told me about this? You write, you play the piano and the guitar and you… you have one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. Why? Why didn't you say anything?" Erik gave me this piercing look like he was trying to look through my eyes into my soul.

It made me uncomfortable I couldn't help but look away. "I didn't because of the same reasons that you don't let people know about your music. You're out in the world now why don't you showcase your music. You are an amazing composer, you're a freaking musical genius but no one in the world knows it but me. Why didn't I tell you? I didn't tell you because I've never told anyone about my music. It's just that, MY music. I don't even play or write that much anymore unless its for an assignment so it never eveb crossed my mind to say anything to you about it."

Erik stayed quiet giving me that same intense look. After a few minutes he grabbed my chair and pulled me closer to him. "Ok I can understand why you wouldn't tell other people but this is me were talking about. No one would understand your love of music better than I would. Not only that but I didn't think that we were still keeping secrets from each other, I mean I know I am new at this whole dating thing but it seems to me that we have been together for long enough now that we shouldn't be keeping things from each other anymore. You know everything about me, there isn't anything about me that you don't know. I guess I just expected them same in return."

I felt so bad, Erik was right. I did know everything about Erik; I had seen so many sides of him; the good and the bad.  
I sat there for a few seconds thinking about everything that Erik and I had been through and everything that he had just said. Finally, I made a big decision; I decided to do something that I had never done for anyone before.  
I looked up at Erik once more, taking a deep breathe before speaking. "Erik do you want to hear my songs?"  
Erik just nodded waiting for me to go ahead and start. Erik and I spent the next 8 hours together in my room. First I played every song I had ever written. Next thing I knew Erik was helping me with them, we were rewriting them or changing the tempo or adding this instrument or that instrument. Never once during those hours did I think about what time it was or the fact that we the next day was Christmas Eve and we would have to get together with the family. I just concentrated on my songs and pretty soon  
I realized that Erik and I made beautiful music together.  
Finally, after eight hours Erik and I finished. We had changed something about every song I had ever written. Looking back on it now you would think that I would have been mad that Erik was changing my songs but I really wasn't. They were good to begin with but Erik made them amazing.

Before Erik left he laid on my bed with me holding me until I fell asleep.

11/26 3am

I can't believe how much everything has changed in just a few days. Everything is falling apart. This was the worst Christmas ever. Erik is gone and I don't know if he is coming back.

Here's what happened:

When I woke up the next morning it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I got up and started running around like crazy. Erik and I were supposed to have been at Mom's at noon. I was just zipping up my new dress when I heard the mirror sliding open and in strode Erik. He looked great in black dress pants and a green dress shirt with a black tie. I couldn't help the thoughts that immediately entered my mind.

I smiled as I walked up to Erik kissing him softly before straightening his tie. It took me about another ten minutes to finish getting ready then we went up to my parents.

The next few hours went by much like Thanksgiving had. My sisters and I helped my mom in the kitchen while the boys sat in the family room playing video games. Erik was right at home playing with my brothers. He was laughing and yelling right around w2ith them. It brought the biggest smile to my face seeing him interact with my family. It gave me an idea for a great present for Erik but it was definitely something that I would have to think about and not rush into.

Finally at about 6:00pm dinner was just about ready and we were all sitting in the family room playing cards when the doorbell rang. My brothers and sisters and I looked around at each other not sure as to who would be at the door now. Our parents stood up smiling at each other. "O this must be our big surprise for you guys." And with that my parents opened the front door and ruined everything.

In through the door walked my mom's best friend Nicole and her son Jacob my ex-boyfriend.


	40. Chapter 38

I sat there praying to every God I had ever heard of that no one would mention that no one would mention the fact that Jacob was my ex. I knew I was wasting my time I knew how Jacob was once he found out that Erik was my boyfriend he would make sure Erik knew exactly who he was and what our relationship had been like. I really hoped that Erik was well enough now that he would be able to handle it and Jacob wouldn't magically go missing but deep down I knew that if Jacob said the things I knew that he was capable of saying that Erik wouldn't be able to handle it.

Nicole and Jacob came in saying hi to everyone I just hug them each quickly not saying anything, I turned to Erik taking his hand in mine. I introduced Erik as my boyfriend and Nicole and Jacob as friends of the family. Jacob knew exactly what was going on I could tell by the smug look on his face.

Finally, after a few minutes we all sat down at the table. Somehow I ended up with Erik on one side of me and Jacob on the other. The first part of dinner went well, I tried to stay in the conversation as much I could so that Erik wouldn't think that anything was wrong but I knew that it couldn't last and it didn't.

After dinner my parents decided that we were all going to watch home movies. I could have died right there and then. Not only was Erik going to have to hear about Jacob and IK together but he was going to see it in the videos. I knew that I had to say something to him before the videos started.

I excused us as pulled him out into the hallway.

Erik gave me a questioning look as I pulled him out into the hallway. I took deep breath before letting out everything I had to say.

"Erik please don't be mad but Jacob is actually my ex we dated for about 3 years before we move out here and probably would have still been together if we hadn't moved but I don't want you to think that I still have feelings for him because I don't it's so over between us. What Jacob and I had doesn't even come close to what you and I have and now my parents are going to show those videos and you're going to see us together. Please, please don't be mad and don't do anything to rash."

I knew that I had spoken way too quickly but apparently Erik had understood everything I had said because he looked really angry, angrier then I had seen him in a long time. He had this look in eyes the last time I had seen that look it hadn't been Erik I was looking at.

"So not only do I get to have the pleasure of watching a video of the woman I love with another man but the first thing you say to me is please don't do anything rash. What would you consider rash Darling, would it be considered rash if I took and stuck him in one of my old torture chambers or if I left him to die down in the cellars? I thought we were passed all of this Sara I thought you were finally starting to trust me again and not seeing HIM every time you looked at me. But apparently I was wrong. Here I was so excited to spend my first Christmas with the woman I love and her family who have accepted me so readily, how stupid of me think that I could ever be blessed with such an opportunity. Let's go your family's waiting."

With that Erik took my hand and pulled me back inside.

The next two hours were the slowest of my life. We started off with videos from very early on when Ronnie was about two years old, then I came in and there was Jacob born just a month before me. The videos focused on all of us kids but I couldn't help feeling like it showed more of me than anyone else and because growing up Jacob and I were pretty much attached at the hip he was also in all of the videos. There were videos of Jacob and I when we were five getting ready to go into our Kindergarten classroom, then Jacob and at our Kindergarten Graduation, there was videos of us playing at the beach and riding rides at Disney World. Watching those videos you could clearly see our feelings for each other growing. Through all of this I could feel Erik's tense body sitting next to me. He watched all of the videos never saying a word even when the rest of the family was laughing and smiling at the memories. Then came the parts I was really dreading. The next video started when we were about 15. My mom always liked to randomly walk around the house with the video camera to see what candid shots she could get. The next thing that showed was Jacob laying back in a recliner watching a movie and there I am curled up on the recliner next to him. This was nothing new Jake and I had been sleeping in beds together and curling up on couched together our entire lives. But then all of a sudden Jacob brings his arms around me and next thing you know he's holding me and you can see that moment is when everything changed. You see me look up at him and he smile softly before leaning in and kissing me. My first kiss…our first kiss caught on tape for everyone to see. After that you see Ronnie getting ready for prom and Jasmine's middle school graduation and Justin's 5th grade graduation. But every time you see Jacob and me we're holding hands or kissing or I'm sitting on his lap and you can plain as day see the love between us.

Finally two hours later the videos are over. Right afterwards Erik says good night to everyone gets up and leaves without saying a word to me. I want to follow him but I'm actually kind of afraid to. So I stayed for another hour just talking and trying to relax but finally I couldn't take it anymore. I excused myself and walked out the door but before I could get to far down the hallway Jacob caught up with me.

"Jake please don't ok. I know that you probably enjoyed every second of that but my relationship with Erik may be done now thanks to my parent's stupidity. I swear when I get a hold of them I'll kill em."

Jacob just shook his head. "No Sara you don't get it. I didn't enjoy that. I… have a girlfriend back home and she was supposed to come with us. Thank God she didn't. I am so sorry that Erik had to see all of that. If you want me to talk to him I will. I mean you were and always will be a big part of my life. You can't spend the first seventeen years of your life with someone and forget about them. You're the first girl I ever loved and I'll always love you but I think we both always knew that it wasn't meant to be."

I shook my head slowly. "I always love you to Jake but you right we aren't meant to be. Erik and I…we're meant to be I know that without a doubt now if I can just get him to see that again."

Jake came over giving me a hug and as he pulled away he whispered…"Once more for old times' sake." And then he leaned in and kissed me. It wasn't a passionate kiss it was over in a couple of seconds, our lips barely touched. Then he turned and walked away.

I went down to my room planning on going down and doing anything it took to make Erik see the truth and to bring my Erik back to me even if it meant having to knock him out and get him back to the his psychiatrist at the hospital. But when I got into my room and hit the latch to open the mirror it didn't work. Erik had locked the mirror somehow.

All of a sudden I just felt really exhausted. It had been such an emotional day and had defiantly not gone the way I wanted it to. I decided to let Erik be until morning. I would go to sleep and then use one of the secret passages to get down to him when I had a clearer head.

I was in such a deep sleep that at first I didn't hear the banging on my door but finally it woke me up. It turned on the lamp by my bed and stumbled over to the door opening it. There were my mom, dad, and Nicole all looking at me with the wide frightened eyes.

"What, what is it, what's wrong? "I said looking at each of them waiting for someone to answer me.

"It's Jacob. His bed is empty and there is blood all over it."


	41. Chapter 39

As I realized what that meant my legs literally gave out, I would have fallen had my dad not caught me. He picked me up and carried me to my bed setting me down. I literally had to put my head in my hands and close my eyes taking deep breaths to keep from being sick. Slowly my brain started working properly again and I knew that I had to pull myself together for all of our sakes. I took one more deep breath before looking up at my parents. I had to lie to them, they couldn't know the truth.

"You guys know how Jake is he's always looking for adventure. I bet you anything he got up in the middle of the night wanting to look around the opera house and he probably got lost in one of the cellars or something. I'll call Erik and have him come back over and we'll look for him. You guys stay up in the apartment in case he comes back there. I don't want you guys to get lost too. I don't know what the blood means but I'll find him I promise."

At first I didn't think that they believed me but after a few tense moments they nodded their heads and left the room heading back upstairs.

As I got dressed I found myself praying once more. I prayed that I was wrong and that Jake really had decided to look around the opera house and was locked in a closet somewhere but deep down I knew the truth; Erik had taken Jake.

Before going down to the cellars I called Erik's doctor and explained everything. He tried to convince me to wait until he got there to go down to Erik's but it would take two hours Jacob could be dead by then, I couldn't take that chance. I told him how to get into the Opera House and down into the cellars. Before hanging up he gave me some advice on how to calm Erik down once I found him.

Finally, I was ready to go. I decided to try the mirror once more. This time it worked. I took one last calming breath before walking through the threshold into the passageway and heading down into my own personal hell.

I'll never forget any part of that night no matter how hard I try but there are some parts of it that stick out in my mind more than others. I'll never forget the feeling of absolute terror that I felt when I came out of the secret passageway onto the shore just outside Erik's house and saw Jacob tied to a lowered portcullis. He was beaten and bloodied, I didn't know what to do I didn't know if I should find Erik first or try to get Jacob out of here. Before I could make up my mind Erik stepped out from the shadows, no not Erik… HIM.

He didn't look like my Erik at all. His clothes were all messed up and he had the white mask covering the right side of his again. Seeing that mask again scared me more than anything it proved that Erik really was gone and this was the Phantom I was dealing with.

I stepped forward my gaze going back and forth between both men. My initial instinct was to go and make sure that Jacob was ok but I knew that if I went for Jacob that that would probably set Erik off so instead I decided to what I could to placate him and keep him calm.

I walked towards Erik slowly my eyes trained on his. "Erik, where did you go last night, I tried to come down but I couldn't get through the mirror. Are you ok?"

He laughed loudly the sound of it bouncing off the stone walls of the catacombs. I recognized that laugh. It wasn't Erik's laugh.

"I didn't go anywhere last night my dear. I have been here all night. Well… almost all night. I left a few times. The first time was about an hour after Erik left your parents' house. He felt horrible for over reacting and went back upstairs to apologize, the poor schmuck. But just as he turned the corner what does he find but his dearly beloved kissing this…thing." He said as gestured at Jacob.

"The anger and pain that tore through Erik at that moment awoken a dormant part of his brain, it awoken me. And that moment I knew what needed to be done. You needed to be punished and how better to punish you then to steal away your lover and make sure that you followed so that you would be here to watch me kill him. Then once he is dead, you and I… we are going to have a lot of fun together. Or at least I will. I am going to do things to you that poor Erik has only ever dreamed about doing."

His words frightened me. I knew what he was capable of. But maybe…just maybe if I did this willingly that would be what it took to disprove his thoughts about Jacob and to bring Erik back.

I walked closer to him so that our bodies were inches away. "Go ahead… do it. Take me, I want you to. No… I want Erik to I have for months and if that's what it takes to prove to him, to both of you that I no longer feel that way about Jacob then so be it."

The next thing that happened was the last thing that I was expecting. He slapped right across the face. He hit me so hard that I literally fell to the ground.

Somehow I managed to not crack my head open on the stone ground but I still whacked my head pretty hard so now I was also seeing stars and probably had a concussion. Before I could try to get up Erik was on top of me pinning my arms above my head.

"Hmm now why does this seem familiar? O yes, because we have been in this position before you little slut! One night you're kissing that thing and then now you're here wanting me to take you? Why? Why does everyone always think that it is ok to torment us! You think its ok to tease us just because of our face you little bitch!" With that he began to hit me.

He wasn't just slapping me now but he was punching me with all of his strength. Each punch felt like someone was hitting me with a car. His strength was incredible. He was hitting me all over in the face, in the stomach. One punch landed directly to my temple and immediately my vision started to fade. But then all of a sudden it stopped, he stopped hitting me. I was having a hard time concentrating, having a hard time getting my eyes to open. Just as I started to catch my breath I felt his hands go around my neck and just like that Erik began to literally strangle the life out of me.

As my vision started to flicker once more all of a sudden the doctor's advice popped into my head and I remembered what he had told me.

Just as my vision started to go black it took all of my remaining strength to force myself to start to softly hum. The doctor made me memorize the song to hum to calm Erik down. It was a song I had heard once playing in Erik's room from a monkey music box.

Just before I passed out I felt the fingers around my throat relax and then everything went black.


	42. Chapter 40

When I finally regained consciousness I literally felt like I had been run over by a bus, every square inch of my body was screaming in pain and it hurt just to breathe. I hurt in parts of my body that I didn't even know I had. I tried to open my eyes but was only able to open them part way because they were so swollen. Through the little bit that I was able to open my eyes I could see Dr. Mason Erik's psychiatrist sitting at the foot of my bed, he was wrapping my ankle with gauze. I tried to speak but as I did my mouth moved and my whole face exploded in pain.

I must have made some kind of sound because the doctor looked up at me; he gave me a sympathetic yet reassuring smile. He moved his chair so that he was sitting closer to my head but what he didn't realize was that now all I could see of him was his chest.

He took my hand in his as he spoke "Don't try to talk Sara; he dislocated your jaw. Normally you would have to have it wired shut but I convinced the doctors at the hospital not to, promising them that I wouldn't let you do anything to hurt yourself."

I gave him a questioning look so he reached over to my nightstand getting a pad of paper and pen. My hand and arm felt heavy and shaky as I tried to write but I forced myself.

What happened?

"Well darling how far back can you remember?"

I thought about it before answering. He was hitting me...

Beating me.

"Ok well. I got there shortly after that. Erik was himself again he was on his knees with you in his arms and he was sobbing. At first I thought he had killed you but when I was finally able to get him to let go of you I was able to determine that you were just unconscious. Erik kept mumbling to himself "what have I done, I've killed her. The only person I've loved in all these years and I killed her." Finally I grabbed him and told him that you were still alive but just barely. He thanked god and asked me to do anything I could to save you. I told him that I would and he asked me what he should do. I told him to get in my car and drive straight away to the institute to check himself in and wait for me there. He kissed you on the forehead whispered that he was sorry and that he loved you then left. Luckily at that moment Jacob regained consciousness thankfully he hadn't hurt him too bad. He said that he was waiting for you. When I untied Jacob and he saw you he fell to his knees crying begging god to take him instead. I told him that if he wanted you to live he had to do exactly as I said. He carried you up above ground with me following. We went to an alley way a few streets down where I called the police saying I had found the both of you there. When they arrived Jacob told them that he had decided to go after Erik to try to explain to him that the two of you had nothing going on and to convince him of how much you love him but on the way he ran into some drunken guy. You had happened upon the man robbing and beating Jacob and he left Jacob for dead as he began beating you also. Erik heard you screaming and found you. When he saw what the man was doing to you he grabbed the man and threw him off of you, the man ran off and Erik followed. He never came back. You and Jacob both were taken to the hospital."

How long was I in the hospital?

"A week, you would come to for a few seconds but then go back under again. The doctors said that being unconscious for so long was your body's way of giving itself a chance to heal. The doctors let us bring you back home under my care this morning. You have a dislocated jaw, a couple cracked ribs, a sprained ankle, and sprained wrist and two broken fingers. You also had a concussion and are bruised pretty much everywhere but you'll be ok. It'll take a while but you'll heal."

How is Jacob? Where is he, is he ok? Why would he lie about Erik? I know Jacob he would have wanted to go after him, he wouldn't have protected him?

"Initially, that's exactly what he wanted to do but I convinced him not to. As we carried you up to that alley way I told him about Erik, the truth about him and I told him that if he hurt Erik or got him thrown in jail that you would never forgive him. Finally I was able to convince him to go along with my story. He's ok just bruised mostly, a couple broken ribs but that's it. He and his mom went back home once he was released from the hospital."

What about my parents, did they believe the story or do they know the truth?

"They don't know the truth. They questioned the blood they found on Jacobs bed. He told them that he had accidentally knocked down the lamp in his room and cut himself picking up the glass."

And…. What about Erik? How is he, where is he?

"He's still at the institute. I told him that he had to stay there until I figure out what to do with him. He is so sorry Sara. I know that that doesn't mean anything but you know that the man who did this to you. That wasn't Erik. Apparently my therapy from before didn't help him like I thought it had. We need to figure something else out, if you even want to have anything to do with him anymore."

I didn't answer for a long time. I lay there thinking about everything that had happened, everything that I knew about Erik, everything I felt for him and I knew that I had to be absolutely crazy but God help me deep down I knew that I loved him and that hadn't changed. The doctor was right the person who had done this to me wasn't my Erik.

What do we do? I don't know what to do to help him.

The doctor took a deep breath. "I think I know what we need to do to help Erik, what we can do to get this thing out of him once and for all. We need to make Erik face his past; we need to make him see that even though he has had this extraordinarily hard life that doesn't mean that no one will ever love him. You love him and if we wants to be with you then he needs to move on and let the things that happened in the past go."

"We need to find Erik's family."

The next several weeks were extremely difficult for me. I was confined to my room for about 22 hours a day. I was allowed two hours out of my room; one out in the theater for rehearsals and one outside. I hated being restricted, I hated the fact that Doctor Mason found it necessary to stay with me when I felt that he should be back at the institute with Erik but no matter how much I argued with him he refused to go help Erik. He insisted that the only way to help Erik was for me to force him to face his past. Those were also difficult for me because although my body was slowly healing I was pretty much in constant pain all over my body. Not only was my body in pain but so was my heart, I was in pain emotionally. Every time my mind wandered I couldn't help but think about the fact that it was Erik who had done this to me. It may not have been my Erik, the Erik that I fell in love with but it was Erik none the less. Even when I had dealt with the Phantom in the past I had never thought that anything like this would actually happen some stupid naïve part of me thought that my Erik would somehow fight the phantom off and come back to me before he could actually do me any harm. Clearly I gave Erik too much credit.

I knew that I still loved Erik but deep down I was having a really hard time letting it go, this time I was having a hard time forgiving him particularly when the pain meds wore off. Every time I thought about it I would end up curled up in a ball sobbing. I had nightmares every night and would wake up screaming at the top of my lungs. For the first couple of weeks I was pretty much in a constant medicine induced haze. I would purposely moan in pain so that the Doctor would give me more medicine. Being in that cloudy dream land where I was in between being a wake and being unconscious was so much better than feeling that pain or having those nightmares.

But after two weeks Doctor Mason grew tired of my wallowing in self-pity so he brought in someone who I couldn't ignore.

I woke up one morning feeling my face being caressed by a damp wash cloth. I opened my eyes to see the last person I ever thought I would see. Jacob was sitting in a chair in front of me with a wash cloth in his hand. He smiled softly as he realized that I was awake. His face still had some bruising on it and he had stiches on his left temple.

I immediately felt this crushing guilt. In the past two weeks I hadn't thought of Jacob once. I was so caught up in myself and the betrayal I was feeling from Erik that Jacob had never even crossed my mind. I immediately began to cry.

Jacob put the wash cloth down and climbed into my bed with me wrapping his arms around me. I turned so that I could put my head on his chest; I lay crying with Jacob holding for what seemed like hours.

Finally, my tears slowed, I tried to relax my body but all of that crying had caused the pain in my ribs to flare up once more. Then I realized that Jacob had also had a few broken ribs and that I was holding onto him very tightly while he was being extremely gentle with me. When I looked up at him he couldn't hide the look of discomfort and pain on his face fast enough. I immediately released my hold on him and tried to pull away.

"Oh Jake I'm so sorry, like I haven't caused you enough pain already."

Jacob gently pulled me back towards him and wrapped his arms back around me.

"Sara you have nothing to be sorry for, none of this was your fault. He did this to us not you and really technically it's not his fault either. I know you're angry and hurt...physically and emotionally but if you love him then you need to let that go. You need to focus on letting your body heal and on doing what you can to help him get better. You can't keep laying here letting the doctor knock you out with medicines so that you can forget everything you need to face it too. He may not have physically hurt me as bad as he did you but at least you didn't have to watch what he did to me."

I looked up at him surprised. "You… You were awake for that?"

I could see the tears building in his eyes but he didn't look away, Jacob had never been one to hide his feelings from me. "Yes I was awake but I didn't do anything. I pretended to be unconscious because I knew that if he knew I was awake he would hurt twice as bad and would have done God knows what else just because I was watching . Seeing him do this to you was bad enough but I don't think I would have been able to handle watching him rape you. I couldn't take that chance."

I lay my head back down on Jake's chest. He kissed the top of my head softly as I spoke. "I want to let it go. I really do but I just…can't. I keep playing it over and over in my head. I know the truth it is my fault. Not completely but partly. I should have known as soon as you got here as soon as I saw the look on Erik's face when I told him who you were. The signs were there but I ignored them. I should have told you the truth and told you to leave."

Jake put his finger under my chin lifting my face so that I would look up at him. "Sara you know that even if you had told me the truth I wouldn't have left. You're my best friend and I wanted to spend Christmas with you."

I just nodded not knowing what to say.

"None of us can talk you out of this, not even me. I can be here with you and I can help you get better physically but no one can make you let his go and move on but yourself. But like I said if you really love Erik you'll find a way to let go and do what you need to find his family."

I knew that he was right. I couldn't keep going like this.

Over the next few weeks I steadily got better. It was still difficult but not as hard as those first two weeks. I dealt with the pain and worked through I know linger depend3ed on the medicine. The only way to keep the nightmares away was to have Jake sleep with me. This ordeal that we had gone through together had brought us even closer together. It made our relationship stronger. I knew that he couldn't stay forever but I was going to take advantage of him being there with me while I could.

We spent weeks doing research on Erik's family and doing everything we could to find them. It was hard but eventually we succeeded.

We found them in a small town in South France.


	43. Chapter 41

Jacob and I were set to leave in the morning to go and meet Erik's family. They didn't know that we were coming but we k new where they lived and we had their address. I was really scared. I hated not being in control and I had lost control over everything a long time ago. I couldn't force Erik's family to want to help me, I wasn't sure if this was even going to help Erik, I didn't know what was going to happen when Erik and I saw each other again. I was actually afraid of him. I didn't know how he was doing, I didn't know if he was better. What if seeing his family set him off again? Jacob was insisting on coming to the institute with me when I took Erik's family there. What if seeing me with Jacob again set him off? Not only was I putting Jacob and myself in danger once more but now I was putting Erik's family in danger and I knew that if they saw that side of Erik that would be it, they would defiantly not want anything to do with him then. And what if I couldn't get them to see him in the first place; I had no clue what to say to them. What if my Erik was gone and all I had left was the Phantom?

I was scared and nervous and still in pain. Part of me felt like maybe I should just use this as a chance to forget about Erik and move on but deep down I knew that although that may seem like the logical choice it wasn't really what I wanted. I was so stressed out about it that the nightmares were starting to come back. I felt like I was slowly on my way to a nervous breakdown.

But I knew that I loved Erik and if I wanted to see him get better so that we could be together then I would have to be the one to help him do that.

So, I got up the next day and forced myself to work through the pain and get ready to meet Erik's family. I showered and did my hair for the first time in weeks. I carefully applied make up to my face trying to hide the bruises. Finally after a couple of hours I was ready to go.

Jacob and I took a train ride down to Antibes, the small town where Erik's parents moved after his accident. On the way Jacob tried to get me to tell him what I was going to say to them but I couldn't, I didn't know.

There were many things that I wanted to say to them. I wanted to tell them that I thought that they were horrible parents for leaving Erik no matter what he had done or what he looked like. I wanted to tell them that it was their fault that Erik had these psychological problems, I wanted to tell them they were the reason why the man I loved was trapped beneath this monster.

But I knew that if I said those things they would never come with me, they would never help him. I had to make it seem like he had asked for them, like he needed them, needed their help.

So three hours later when our train arrived at the station, I resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never be able to tell Erik's family exactly what I thought of them but I smiled because I knew that once Erik saw them he would probably say enough for the both of us.

It didn't take us long to find Erik's families home. The people in the town were very friendly and pointed us in the right direction when asked.

As we found the right house Jacob and I just stared at each other. We were standing outside these huge ginormous wrought iron gates and behind them was Erik's family home. If you could even call it a home, it was really more of a mansion. Apparently, Erik's family still had money.

Jacob and I gave each other one last look before walking down the drive towards the "house".

When we rang the doorbell a maid came to the door asking us how she could help us.

I told her that we were there to see Mr. and Mrs. LeGrange. At first she wouldn't have anything to do with us saying that the owners of the house were not expecting guests.

It took a few minutes of arguing with her but finally she went to tell them that we were there.

I was left speechless when the door opened once more. Erik's parents were standing in front of me. The resemblance was un-nerving. Erik looked like the perfect combination of his mother and father.

They stood there looking at us expectantly but when we didn't speak Erik's father asked us who we were.

I held out my hand to him. "My name is Sara and this is Jacob. We're very sorry to bother you and your wife sir but we're here regarding your son."

He gave me a confused looked, and then looked over his shoulder at his wife saying something to her in French but he said it so quickly that I didn't catch it. She nodded her had giving me a confused look as well.

"All of our children are here at home miss, what could you possibly have to ask about them?"

Jacob and I looked at each other in stunned silence. They had other children, Erik had brothers and sisters. I knew that there was no way Erik knew, he would have told me.

Suddenly the knowledge that Erik's parents had abandoned him but then saw themselves fit to have other children made me incredibly angry.

"I don't mean them. I didn't know you had other children here. I am talking about your son. The one you abandoned when he was a child, the one you bastards left to die in a hospital in Paris twenty years ago."

They both stared at me with mirrored looks of shock. Then Erik's mother said one word just loud enough for me to hear her before she passed out causing her husband to have to catch her.

"Erik."


	44. Chapter 42

Mr. LaGrange told Jacob and I to follow him inside as he carried his wife into a sitting room and laid her down on the couch. He shook her softly to wake her up and as she woke up she immediately began to speak in rapid French but I heard Erik's name. The two spoke to each other for a few minutes completely ignoring Jacob and me. Until finally Erik's father motioned for us to have a seat as he began to speak.

"I will choose to ignore the insulting things that you said about my wife and I. Now tell me; what about Erik, how do you even know him… we thought that he was dead."

Jacob knows me so well. He took my hand squeezing it and gave me a look that was clearly telling me to let it go. He knew that more than anything I really wanted to tell Mr. LaGrange that I really couldn't care less what he did or did not ignore. But I knew that if I said that he would probably tell me to leave and I would never be able to get him to help me.

I took a deep breath reminding myself that this wasn't about me, it was about Erik and I needed to do this to help Erik.

"No, Erik is not dead. He is very much alive. He's my…boyfriend and my business partner. We are here because Erik is sick and we need your help to get him better."

Hearing my words Mrs. LaGrange sat up giving me a strange look. She started talking to me but I had to really concentrate to be able to understand her through her heavy accent.

"You are in a relationship with Erik? You… must be a very strong woman to be able to accept him the way he is and what do you mean he is your business partner?"

I stayed silent for a few seconds trying to decide what I should and should not tell these people. I knew that if I told them too much about the Phantom they probably wouldn't agree to help. Also it was absurd that out of everything I said they were focusing on the fact that Erik and I were in a relationship not on the fact that I had said that he was sick and they didn't seem all that happy to hear that their son was alive. I was liking these people less and less with every minute. But I knew that I had to convince them so I would have to put my recent experiences with Erik aside and focus on the real Erik that I knew was in there somewhere.

I looked at Jacob who just nodded his headed encouraging me to speak.

"Yes as I said Erik and I are in a relationship together. But there is nothing about him for me to not accept. He is an amazing man. He is loving and sweet and incredibly smart. He can be extremely stubborn at times but he is also very understanding of others. "As soon as I started talking I couldn't stop. All of these memories came rushing back and I realized just how in love with Erik I truly was despite everything that happened. Next thing I knew I had this huge smile on my face but I was also crying because I couldn't believe how wrong things had gone.

When I stopped talking I realized that Erik's parents were looking at me like I was crazy. I took a deep breath to calm myself before speaking again.

"Look Erik and I have been through a lot together. You wouldn't believe the things that we have been through but through all of it there's always been one constant… our feelings for each other. Through everything that has happened our feelings for each other have never changed, we have always worked through it but recently things have gotten really difficult. But, I love Erik and nothing is going to change that, which is why we are here. We need your help."

Mr. LaGrange sat down next to his wife putting an arm around her before speaking. "I don't understand why you would need our help. What could we possibly do? As you said we haven't seen Erik in twenty years. From you have said seems to me like you should be the one helping him."

Before I could help myself I was on my feet yelling. "I am trying to help him, Dammit! Why the hell do you think I'm here? Erik is sick ok. He… He's in a mental hospital. No matter how good things are going for us now he can't let go of the past. He can't forgive himself for what happened in that opera house. He thinks it's his fault that those boys died and he thinks it's his fault that you guys left him but it's not. He was just a kid. What happened to those boys was an accident. But what happened after that is no one's fault but your own. You left him, a little boy whose world had just shattered around him. He needed you his parents who supposedly loved him and what did you do? You left him there; burned and… and broken. If you feel even one ounce of guilt then this is your chance to make it right. I honestly believe that seeing you guys again, that making Erik face his past and forcing him to accept the fact that it wasn't his fault will help him, that he will finally be able to move on and have a happy life."

I stood there staring at them and even though I had said all of the things that I had wanted to say I was still so incredibly angry. I just couldn't fathom how they could have possibly left him. It just seemed so wrong. They hadn't been there to raise him or to love him or to see the incredible man that he had grown up to be.

But as my breathing slowed and my blood pressure dropped back down I realized that they were crying and I could see it, I could see the guilt and regret and I knew that I had done it. I had gotten through to them.

Mr. LaGrange looked up at me with this incredibly sad look on his face. Everything you have said is the truth. It is our fault and we did make a horrible mistake but we want to make it right. Please take us to our son.


	45. Chapter 43

I had told myself over and over that everything would be ok but now as I sat on the train with Jacob and Erik's family I was terrified, I had so many doubts.

What if Erik couldn't forgive his family, what if he wanted nothing to do with them, what if he wanted nothing to do with me? What if he wasn't better, what if seeing me or seeing me and Jacob set him off, what if I was putting all of us in danger? What would happen when he saw me? I had done my best to cover up the bruises as best I could but I couldn't cover them completely and it still hurt a bit to breathe and I had a hard time bending a couple of my fingers. What would Erik do when he realized how badly he had hurt me?

I wasn't only worried about his reaction but I was also worried about mine. What would I do when I saw him? I was so afraid just thinking about it now what would happen when we were actually face to face? What if I couldn't help myself and I burst into tears or if I had a panic attack?

Jacob being as intuitive about me as he always had must have sensed my growing panic because he reached over and took my hand lacing his fingers through mine then he leaned over and whispered to me. "I know you're nervous but it'll be ok. I promise." Using his other hand he turned my head so that I would look into his eyes as he continued speaking. "I won't let anything happen to you. I swear it, this time I know what to expect. I'll protect you."

I smiled softly before leaning over and laying my head on Jake's shoulder wincing softly at the pain that flared in my ribs. "I don't know what I would do without you Jakey. Really, if it wasn't for you I'd probably still be at home drugged out in bed. God only knows how long it would have taken me to recover without. You've always been here for me, no matter what for as long as I can remember."

Jake kissed the top of my head softly. "Of course I'm here for you you know that. I love you and that's why I'll always be here for you. But if you want things to work out with Erik then you need to stop relying on my so much and put your trust in him. I know that's hard right now but you have to learn to. You can't be in a relationship with him but always depending on me for everything. The trust and honesty that we have, that we've always had since we were kids you need to have that with Erik now."

I nodded my head softly knowing that he was right.


	46. Chapter 44

I literally had to force myself not to get up and run as we all sit in the lobby of the mental institute waiting for the doctor to come out. I was freaking out and I felt like I might puke.

Looking around the room I could tell that we were all nervous. Mr. LaGrange was pacing back and forth across the lobby and Ms. LaGrange was chewing a fingernail, something I am sure never normally do.

Finally, the door to a door opened and the doctor came out. He introduced himself to Erik's parents before coming over to Jacob and I. "How are you guys feeling, you look as if you're healing well?"

Jacob and I spent a few minutes talking about our various injuries with him. I relaxed a little as he assured us that it was perfectly normal for us both to still be in some pain we had both been through a huge trauma.

As he finished speaking to Jacob and me he turned to speak to the group entirely. "Now as for Erik, I have been working with him very closely to prepare him for this. Sara I told him that you were coming, I didn't think that it would be a good idea for you to just show up and surprise him. I have him in what we call our family room. It's where our patients go to visit with their families. You will be the only ones in there. Jacob I want to have Sarah go in by herself."

Jacob immediately began to protest asking the doctor if he was crazy sending me in there alone, all I could do was stand there shocked. I hadn't anticipated being alone with Erik, Jacob had promised to be there to protect me.

The doctor raised his hands and started speaking once more cutting Jacob off. "Listen to me! I know what I am doing. I've got Erik stabilized and I honestly do not think that he will do anything to hurt Sarah but if you show up out of the blue with her. I can't promise that that won't trigger that phantom once more. She will be safe I promise, the rest of us will be in a room right across the hall. We will be watching everything on monitors if anything gets out of hand we will be able to stop it right away."

"If he hurts her again I am holding you personally responsible and believe me what I do to you won't be pretty." Jacob tried to get into the doctors face but I held him back.

Mr. LaGrange cleared his throat bringing our attention to him. "What about us? When will we see Erik?"

" Well, I am sending Sara in first because I think that it would be good for her to bring you guys in so that she will have a chance to explain that she has realized that it is up to her to help him and that she is doing everything I n her power to do that. So after Sarah talks to him and they've said their peace then she will bring you guys in when she is ready."

Now the doctor looked at me. "Now Sara, are you ready?"


	47. Chapter 45

The doctor led us all down a hallway and through a door into a room full of monitors. The monitors were off at the moment but I knew that in a few moments Erik and I would be displayed on them I just hoped that what everyone saw were Erik and I talking not the phantom trying to suffocate me with one of the pillows on the couch.

A few minutes passed and then a phone rang and the doctor picked it up. As he hung it up he nodded at me signaling me to go ahead across the hall into the room with Erik.

Jacob came over quickly pulling me into a hug. I rested my forehead on his chest inhaling his familiar sent and smiling softly as he told me one last time that he wouldn't let anything happen to me. I gave his hand one last squeeze as I turned and walked out the door before I could change my mind and let the fear over take me.

As I walked into the family room and saw Erik the first thing I realized was that they had to have him medicated. His eyes were a bit glossy and he seemed a little too relaxed but as his gaze rested on me his body immediately tensed.

I took a deep breath trying to keep my voice steady as I spoke. "Hi Erik, How… how have you been?" 

He stayed quite for a long time. He just stared at me, his gaze moving over my body starting at my feet and slowly moving their way up. Immediately I knew that Erik had realized how badly injured I had been; that he could see the bruises through the make-up, tell that I had broken ribs and was still in pain by the shallow breaths I was taking and had noticed that slight limp I had from the sprained ankle. As he realized the full extent of my trauma and that he had been the one to inflict he began to shake his head back and forth and was muttering to himself.

It scared me he truly looked like a mental patient. I flinched as all of a sudden the glossy look was gone from his eyes and he sort of hurled himself onto the floor at my feet.

"O God Sara, what did I do? How could I have hurt you so badly? I am so sorry." I had always been able to read Erik's emotions on his face but to see such regret, sadness and pain reflected on his face and in his eyes killed me. I hated to see him like this of all the reactions I had been expecting this wasn't one of them.

I had wanted him to apologize but not like this. I forced myself to take his hand and pull him up making him stand then forcing him back onto the couch where we could both sit.

He tried to speak but I put my hand up to his mouth so that he would be quiet.

"No it's my turn to talk. I need to get this out. You owe me that much. "

He just shook his head not breaking eye contact.

"You… you hurt me very badly, not just physically but emotionally. You caused injuries to my body that I never thought I would have. You tried to kill me and almost succeeded. On top of that my emotional pain was so bad that I had to be put on medication and I became dependent on them something that I have always told myself I would never do because I've seen the effects of medication addictions. Not only did you hurt me but you indirectly hurt my family although they don't know that you're the one who did this to me. You also almost killed my best friend. You have put me through hell and back since the first time that I opened my eyes and saw you in front of me. But despite all that for reasons that I myself cannot even fathom let alone explain … I still love you. I know that in there somewhere underneath all of that hurt and pain and anger and that damn…monster is the man that I fell in love with. And I am determined to do everything in my power to drive that thing away so that the amazing, sweet, generous, funny man that I know is trapped down in there can out permanently. It amazed me that despite all of the things, all of the cruelty that you have been through in your life you can still be such a good person because that… that THING isn't you."

I stopped here because Erik had this confused look on his face and he seemed to be having a hard time concentrating.

"You mean… You aren't here to tell me that you're leaving me, that you're done with me. When the doctor told me that you were coming I was sure that it was to tell me that you hated me and that I was a monster and you wanted nothing to do with me ever again."

I shook my head trying to take deep breathes ignoring the soreness. " I'll be honest I did feel that way at first and those were my intentions but as the drugs wore off and my head cleared I knew that deep down that wasn't what I truly wanted. My heart had forgiven you before my mind even realized it."

After hearing my words Erik did something that I had not expected at least not now that I had let my guard down.

He jumped up from the couch and back away from me as if he was trying to put distance between us so that he couldn't hurt me. Then he began yelling like a mad man.

"Are you crazy! Do you like getting hurt? You must be stupid. How could you even contemplate continuing a relationship with me? I'm a horrible person, I'm crazy, I'm violent and I almost killed you! I'm a monster how could you possibly want anything to do with me? You need to leave… NOW! You need to leave and never come back; you need to stay as far away from me as you possibly can so that I can never hurt you again. I swear you need to go or I'll… I'll find a way to kill myself I swear I will. I would rather die than let that thing take over and hurt you again."

Hearing Erik's words were like a knife in my heart. I knew that he was serious. This… this was my Erik and I knew that he would do anything to keep me safe from himself even if it meant taking his own life.

I stood up and went to him, he tried to back away from me but eventually he was up against a wall and he couldn't go any further. I stood in front of him and took both his hands in mine forcing him to touch h me. "Erik… you can't talk like that ok. I'm not going anywhere and you're not going to do anything, you're never ever going to think about something like that again ok! We're going to get rid of this thing, that's why I'm here I think I finally know what you need to do to get rid of this thing but first I think we both need this."

And with that I literally threw myself at Erik and kissed him. At first he didn't kiss my back his lips weren't moving against mine and he had his hands fisted at his sides like he was having to force himself to stay under control but I wasn't going to give up. I stepped up to him putting my body flush against his and immediately I knew I was affecting him I could feel the proof of it pushing against me. But still he didn't touch me and refused to kiss me back that is until I fisted my hands in his hair, pushed my body harder against his and forced my tongue into his mouth.

He gave this animal like groan before he finally lost control and kissed my back. The next thing I knew my back was pressed to the wall and Erik had his hands pressed to it on either side of my body caging me in and he was grinding his erection in to me. We had shared some passionate kissed before but I could always feel the love in them this, this was different. This was pure unrestrained desire.

Erik had never been this way before and I was almost afraid that I had brought HIM out but as I pulled away to catch my breath and I saw the look in Erik's eyes I knew that I had nothing to be afraid of. This was my Erik; he had managed to keep the monster at bay.

The look in Erik's eyes as we both tried to calm our breathing was a mixture of love and complete awe.

As he struggled to catch his breath and clearly trying to calm his body down Erik gave a shaky laugh.

"You… you're crazy you know that. I… how could you possibly be here right now, kissing me like that clearly still wanting me after what I did to you. The doctor may want to consider giving YOU a room here too."

I laughed softly shaking my head. "You're right I am crazy, I'm crazy about you."

Erik gave me this beautiful full smile before leaning in and kissing me again but this time it wasn't quite as rough, this one was more about love then desire. But I could quickly feel Erik building himself back up once more so before we both lost control and I was unable to get my mind to focus properly. I pushed Erik away from me and moved away from the wall.

This wasn't over yet. I still had to tell Erik that his parents were here.


	48. Chapter 46

"Ok we have to stop or I'll never be able to focus enough to finish telling you what I need to." I said as I moved away from Erik.

Erik gave me this sexy grin as he spoke "But we've been away from each other for so long and have a lot of lost time to make up for. "And with that he tried to grab me and pull me to him once more but I jumped out of the way.

I couldn't help but laugh, I had my old Erik back…for the moment but I knew that that could change in an instant.

"We do have a lot of lost time to make up for but now isn't the time. We need to get you better before we can take this any further."

"Come on love, I'm fine and the more time I spend with you the better I will be."

I just shook my head pulling Erik down on to the couch with me but making sure to sit a bit away from him. "That's great… in theory but we both know that it isn't true. We thought that you were better before and look what happened. We can't let that happen again. This time we need to be sure. I think I've figured out what needs to happen for you to get better."

Erik gave me this pained look. "Please tell me you're not leaving. You can't leave already."

I took Erik's hand giving it a squeeze. "Well I'm not leaving right away but I will have to leave eventually. One of us has to be in Paris to run the Opera House, can you just imagine what my family would do to our business if they were left to run it for too long. But it's not like it will be forever. Once you're better you'll come back home, to work and to me."

"So what is this fabulous idea that you have, what are you going to do that is going to cure me?" Erik moved closer to me on the couch and took my hand in his. He seemed a bit nervous to hear my plan.

"Well I remember when you first told me about your past and everything that happened you said that you didn't start to hear his voice until after everything happened. So I think that what you need to do is acknowledge your past. You need to accept it, you need to accept and let go of everything that happened. And I have the perfect people here to help you do that."

At that moment Erik's parents walked into the room. They were both crying and already you could see the guilt on their faces. Erik was just looking back and forth between the two of them. He was totally and completely shocked. He didn't know what to say.

I stood up and sort of moved off into the corner allowing Erik's parents to sit next to him on the couch. I couldn't help but hold my breath, I kept expecting Erik to go off and tell them to get the hell out and then turn on me but he didn't. He sat there staring at his parents and it killed me to see the tears falling from his eyes.

From the corner of my eye I saw Jacob motioning for me to come out of the room. I walked out and didn't even notice that I too was crying until Jake was wiping my tears and asking me if I was ok. I just nodded my head and walked back into the room where the doctor was.

He came over giving me a hug. "You did well. Things went better than I was expecting them to. You were very brave, I'm proud of you." I smiled hugging him back.

"So what should I do now?" I asked looking from the doctor over to Jake. "Well I think the best thing to do now is head back home. I know you want to be here for Erik but I think what he needs now is to have time with his parents and time by himself. He needs to be able to process everything and work everything out with his family and in his sessions with me. I promise that I will keep you updated on his progress and that as soon as I am one hundred percent positive that this has worked I'll send him back to Paris, back to you."

So with that Jacob and I headed back to the train station and I left Erik to try and reconcile his past. I couldn't wait for him to come home so that we could move forward with our life together.


	49. Chapter 47

The next three months were torture. My body finally healed completely and I was able to really go back to work and focus on the Opera House.

But aside from that those three months were horrible. Jacob had to go back home, back to work and his own life and although we talked all the time it wasn't the same. Also, Erik's doctor had decided that it was a good idea for Erik and I not to talk while he was recuperating. He kept me up to date on Erik, calling almost every day but it wasn't the same. I didn't want to know how Erik was doing through someone else; I wanted to hear it straight from him but the doctor insisted that it would be better if I let Erik have the time with his family.

They were still there with him. They were working things out and Erik had met his younger siblings. It actually kind of scared me thinking that Erik was spending all this time with his family. What if they somehow convinced him that it would be better for him to go home with them and get to know them better? I prayed everyday that that wouldn't happen. I didn't know what I would do if they convinced him that a life with them was more important than a life with me.

After a couple of weeks of being home without Erik I couldn't take it anymore and I moved all my things down into Erik's house. It was weird to be there without him but it felt better than being up in the Opera House. The house smelt like Erik, it felt like I had a part of him there with me and that was better than not having him at all.

Finally, after three months I got an email from the doctor telling the date that Erik would be coming back and he assured me that our plan had worked and that Erik indeed was one hundred percent better and that we wouldn't have to worry about the phantom anymore.

I didn't really know what to think. I wanted to believe that the doctor was right and that Erik was better and the Phantom was something that we could finally move beyond. But honestly I was a little skeptical. Erik had gone so long, doing so well and then out of nowhere bam the Phantom was back. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wondering, waiting for something that would trigger him so I had to find a way to move past it.

I had an idea but I didn't know if I was ballsy enough to try it. I spent days arguing with myself over it, weighing the pros and cons. As much as I love and trust Jacob this was not something that I was comfortable talking to him about.

Finally, I decided to give it a try. I decided to put my faith in the doctor and especially in Erik.

There was one way to really find out if the Phantom was gone. Looking back now I realized that during those good months the Phantom hadn't really been gone. I had felt him there with Erik just beneath the surface of his consciousness. I now realized that he had taken over in times of high sexual tension or when Erik became aroused. I had ignored it then trying to deny it. I could always tell the difference between Erik and the Phantom. Erik was passionate yet gentle and loving. With the Phantom there was no gentleness he was all raw passion and desire.

The only way to really be able to tell if the Phantom was gone for real would be to give myself to Erik fully, to have sex with him. If the Phantom came out I would know it in an instant and we would know that he wasn't truly gone. I knew that if he was still in there he wouldn't take over for just anything it had to be something good, I had to seduce him. And if he wasn't in there, then it would just be me and my Erik and nothing could be better than that.

So knowing that I had about a week before Erik got back I set my plan into motion.


	50. Chapter 48

The next week was a busy one between work and getting ready for Erik, I had barely any down time. Not to mention the fact that the anticipation was killing me. Erik and I or the Phantom and I had had some pretty passionate moments and I wanted this one to top them all. I didn't know whether Erik would be ready for this or not but I didn't care I wasn't giving him a choice. With the plan I had there was no way he would be able to resist me.

The day before Erik got back was especially busy. I went and did some shopping buying a new dress and shoes as well as some very naughty lingerie. By the end of the night I would have Erik…or the Phantom eating out of the palm of my hand.

I had to force myself not to think of the danger that I could be putting myself in. I couldn't think about the different outcomes that my actions could have. But, even though I tried to keep them at bay those thoughts and worries were there in the back of my mind.

What if the Phantom came out and didn't stop this time, he had almost killed me because of jealousy last time what if he raped me out of lust this time. What if it was just Erik and he thought I was a slut and wanted nothing to do with me.

All of these thoughts were floating around in my head as I did my shopping and then headed to the grocery store to buy the things I would need to make dinner for Erik. I wanted this night to be reminiscent of the first night he had come back from the psych hospital but this time the sexiness would be amped up and nothing was going to stop us from going all the way.

I spent the entire following day down in the catacombs getting things ready. I was making a pot roast with lots of yummy veggies for dinner and had made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. I also made sure to have lots of red wine (Erik's favorite) on hand. But I had to make sure that neither of us drank too much I didn't want us to be drunk for our first time.

I put the meat in the slow cooker with lots of broth and veggies and left it to cook while got the rest of the house ready. Erik had been gone so long that dust had accumulated everywhere. So I got to work cleaning, dusting, moping, and vacuuming. I especially made sure that there wasn't a speck of dust in the music room. I wanted Erik to see that I had taken extreme care of his most valuable possessions. Once the house no longer looked like it had been abandoned for months, I started a fire in the living room then headed to Erik's room to get myself ready.

I took a nice long hot bath making sure to use my all my best smelling body wash and shampoos. I made sure that I shaved in all of the appropriate places before getting out and applying more great smelling lotion. I then proceeded to do my long hair into curls. Erik had once told me that I looked incredibly sexy when my hair was curled.

After that was done I went to check on dinner before heading back into the room to apply my makeup. I put on as little as possible so that it would look natural except for my eyes where I used black eyeliner and my lips were put on red lipstick to match my heels… and lingerie.

Finally, I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom examining my handwork. I knew that the tight white dress along with the red heals and make up made me look like a prostitute but it was ok because I knew that there was no way Erik would be able to keep his hands off me.

I stood at the stove finishing our food waiting for Erik to come through the door just like I had last time. The only difference was that this time I had outdone myself with the house. Everything was clean and there were candles lit everywhere along with fireplaces and the whole house smelled like the delicious dinner I had made us. I hoped to not only show Erik what a great lover I could be but also that someday I could make a great wife.

Finally, when I was really starting to get anxious I heard the front door open and knew that Erik was finally home.

I took a deep breath to steady myself and reminded myself that even if something bad happened at least this time it would be my own fault and on my own terms.

I heard Erik go into the bedroom where he must have put his things down before heading towards the kitchen. Instead letting my fear take over and standing at the stove with my back to him and stood at the counter facing the door way so that when he walked in I would be the first thing he saw.

He was talking as he came in to the kitchen. "Wow, something smells incred…"

I'll never forget the look on Erik's face as he came through the archway into the kitchen and saw me. The words instantly died on his lips and his face at first was one of shock but then the shock faded and in its place was a look of total and complete lust. N

In that moment it was like I could read Erik's mind and see all of the images ingrained there. It was like watching a silent movie of all the things that Erik instantly saw himself doing to me in that dress. That look instantly had my body covered in goose bumps and my knees went weak.

I waited for him to say something but it was like someone had taken away his ability to speak. I just stood there dumbstruck, staring at me. His beautiful mis-matched eyes wandered slowly up my body staring from my feet and working their way up.

Finally, after God only knows how long Erik walked over to me slowly the look of pure desire on his face showing me exactly what he wanted to do to me.

Even as he came around the counter towards me so that I had turn with my back to the counter he still said nothing. And when he was finally in front of me he put both of his hands on either side of my body blocking me in between the counter and his own beautiful body.

"I have to have you… NOW" was all he said before grabbed and pulled me flush against him so that he could press his lips to mine in a deep sensuous kiss.

I couldn't help the shiver that overcame me as he wrapped his arms tightly around me, possessively. I fisted my hands in his shirt holding him to me, all thoughts of everything else forgotten,

After a while the feeling of Erik fumbling with the zipper of my dress brought me out of the lust induced coma that my brain seemed to be in and back to reality. I used the hands on Erik's chest to push him away from me.

He must not have been expecting it because he stumbled backwards a little bit before leaning back against the other counter, his breath coming out in short pants.

I gave him a seductive smile before shaking my finger at him. "No, No… I didn't spend all day making this delicious diner for us to skip it. That… can wait till later."

Erik gave me this incredulous look. "Darling, you give me too much credit. There is no way in hell that I will be able to sit through a meal while you're dressed like that. Besides, I wouldn't enjoy the meal because the entire time I would be imaging all of the things that that dress makes me want to do to you."

I smiled as I walked up to Erik getting close so that our faces were inches apart. "Well you better figure out a way to control yourself because if you don't eat the dinner I made you then you don't get any of this." I leaned forward kissed him one more time hard on the lips, sliding my tongue against his before turning back on him and going to the pother counter to finish putting the final touches on the strawberries.

Erik came up behind me wrapping his arms around my waist before blatantly rubbing his hardness against my behind. He moved the curls out of the way so that he could bite my neck rather roughly (which had my eyes rolling into the back of my head) before he whispered in my ear. "Fine my love have it your way. We'll have your dinner but afterwards YOU will be my dessert." 

I couldn't help the shivers I got and the moan that escaped me.

I turned towards Erik, leaning on the tip of my toes and kiss him softly before pushing him away once more and grabbing the pot roast to take it to the table.

Erik follows grabs the rest of the food and follows me into the dining room.

Maybe I didn't really contemplate all the outcomes of my wearing this dress because instead of us eating and laughing and talking about how Erik was doing like I had imagined we spent the whole time in an awkward silence.

It was obvious what we were both thinking about and that we were both just waiting for dinner to be over so that we could get to the main event of the night.

Finally, we were both finished eating and I stood to take the dishes into the kitchen but before I could Erik stood grabbing my arm.

"O no, those dishes can wait till later. There are more important things for us to be doing." And with that he pulled me to him once more and kissed me.

As I kissed him back I tried to squirm out of Erik's arms but he wrapped his arms around me in this vice like grip. I couldn't move and the more I kissed Erik the more everything else slipped from my mind.

After a few minutes I couldn't take it anymore, I didn't want to put it off. I had done part of what I wanted. Erik wanted me so now it was time to put part two of my plan into action.

I brought my arms up and around Erik's neck pulling him to me so that our bodies were flush against each other's. It felt so good to finally just let loose with Erik and not have to worry about someone walking in or having to go back to work.

As I wrapped my arms around Erik he gave this growl sort of sound before bringing his arms down and lifting me up so that I could wrap my legs around his waist.

He held me to him tightly as he walked out of the dining room. I expected him to carry me into the bedroom but next thing I knew he had pushed me up against a wall and smashed his lips against mine in a searing kiss.

I moaned softly as I felt his tongue sliding against mine. Before I could even comprehend what I was doing I had started to unbutton his shirt and he was once again fumbling with the zipper on my dress. I had his shirt opened and off before he had the zipper undone even a little bit.

I chuckled softly pulling away from him so that I could look at him. "Are you having problems, my love?"

Erik gave me this stubborn frustrated look as he sat me down on my feet then turned me around so that I was facing the wall and my back was toward him.

I couldn't help but laugh as he still struggled with the zipper. Finally he managed to get it down and I heard the sharp intake of breath as he saw what I was wearing underneath

I turned around slowly letting Erik get the full view of the lingerie that I had bought for him.

He had that look on his face again, the same one he had had when he first came into the kitchen.

"You're gorgeous… what did I ever do to deserve such an amazing woman in my life?" At first I thought that he was playing around but then as I really got a good look at him I realized that he wasn't. It was a serious question.

Before I could answer him he turned and walked away and into the living room.

I stood composing myself for a couple of minutes. This was not how I had expected things going.

As I walked into the family room I saw Erik sitting on the couch in front of the fire. I stood there watching and couldn't help but ask myself the same question; what had I done to deserve such an amazing man? He was sweet and smart and had a great sense of humor. I smiled as I thought that he was also damn good looking especially right then. He had not put his shirt back on it was still thrown on the floor somewhere. So he was sitting in front of the fire shirtless and you could see the shadows of the flickering flames dancing on his skin. In that moment I realized how much I loved Erik but also how much I wanted him.

I moved further into the room so that I was standing in front of him but he wouldn't look at me he just stared down at the floor. I couldn't let him do this, I couldn't let his guilt catch up with him now and ruin our night.

I went up to him putting my finger under his chin and turning his face up so that he was looking at me. He made me feel incredibly beautiful as his breathe hitched as he saw me in the light of the fire.

I waited for him to say something but he didn't so I pushed his arms apart and climbed onto his lap on the couch. I had to force him to wrap his arms around me. I knew from past experiences with Erik that if I just stayed quiet and let him gather his thoughts that he would eventually tell me what was wrong. But this time he didn't, I stayed quiet waiting but he didn't say anything he just sat looking past me into the fire, his fingers rubbing small circles into my lower back.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Erik what is it, what's wrong? Don't… Don't you want me? I thought that dressed like this you wouldn't be able to resist me."

He shook his head as he chuckled softly. But it wasn't a happy sort of chuckle it was more of a sarcastic chuckle. " Believe me darling I am having a very hard time resisting you and of course I want you. You're beautiful and the sexiest woman I've ever seen but.. I can't do this. I don't deserve you at all but I certainly don't deserve your body or for you to show me your love in such a way."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Ugh, Erik don't do this! Don't start this whole pity thing again; I thought we were past this. You're a great man, you do deserve me and you have me I'm right here. Ok, this is my choice I choose who I give myself to and I choose you. I love you and you love me, that's all that matters. Everything else that happened before is in the past, none of that matters anymore. I'm tired of living in the past it's time to live in the present, to live in the moment and right now the only thing that matters is this moment."

I took his face in my hands forcing him to look at me. He tried to look away but I held tight forcing him. I looked him dead in the eyes as I spoke. "Erik, stop fighting this. I want you so make love to me…NOW"

With those words his resolve finally broke. That look of total lust came over him once more and he wrapped his arms around me once more before pulling me into a kiss like no other.

Erik picked me up but instead of carrying me into the bedroom he laid me down on the floor right there in the living room in front of the fireplace.

I couldn't help the sounds that I made as I ran my hands over Erik's body and felt his running slowly over mine touching places that he hadn't before.

As I let out one particularly loud moan Erik starting laughing as he pulled his face pulled away from me long enough to whisper. "If you keep making noises like that I won't be able to control myself for very much longer and I'll just take you."

I gave him a seductive look, raising one eyebrow slowly "Maybe that's what I want.

Erik smiled before nibbling on my bottom lip softly. "You little tease. That sounds great…for later. Right now I want to take things slow, I want this to last."

And with that Erik began to softly kiss my neck and then run his tongue along the sensitive spots.

Of course Erik wanted to take things slow when the thought of that was driving me crazy, I felt like I needed to have him now.

So in an attempt to get him to take things faster I sandwiched my hands between us so that I could get his pants undone and off. He laughed but lifted the bottom half of his body off of me so that it would be easier for me to get them off.

As Erik stood up to be able to completely remove his pants I quickly pulled off the top part of the lingerie leaving me in nothing but the tiny boy shorts underneath.

Erik's breath caught as he turned and saw me naked from the waist up. He smiled as he lay back down on top of me and whispered in my ear before kissing me once more. "You look good enough to eat."

I couldn't help but laughing before I forgot everything as Erik brought his hot mouth and tongue down to my breast taking one hard peak into his mouth while caressing the other with his hand.

He made the mistake of grinding his hardness into me; that was my undoing. That was it I couldn't take it anymore.

I pushed on his shoulders so that he was now lying on the floor and I was once again straddling him. I sat up so that I could look down at him. I playfully ran a hand slowly over his erection before standing up in front of him and slowly pulling the boy shorts off as he watched.

When I FINALLY stood before Erik with nothing on I had an instant where I was almost positive that the Phantom had taken over. He had the exact same look of…hunger in his eyes that the Phantom had but as he opened his mouth and spoke I knew that this was Erik talking.

"You're really making this Hard on me Ange." I smiled as I got back down on the floor beside Erik and proceeded to pull his boxers off. Once they were off I looked up at Erik smiling, "I see that."

Erik most have anticipated my next move because before I could straddle him once more, he had pushed me underneath him and had his body pressed flush to mine.

I ran my hands over his back loving the feeling of his hard muscles under my fingertips.

I was so focused on the feeling of Erik's b body on top of me that I didn't even notice when he slid his hand down between us. That is until he slowly slid one of his long fingers inside of me. It's was so unexpected and the immediate feel of pleasure that ran through me caused my body to sort of jump and a moan to escape me.

I looked up at Erik and could see the desire blatantly displayed on his beautiful face.

"O screw it I can't take it anymore!" I just barely caught his whispered words before he was kissing me once more.

I must have finally gotten through to him because he slid he his hands down to my thighs before he placed them so that I had my legs wrapped around his waist and he was situated perfectly between my legs.

He groaned as he felt the heat and wetness radiating out of me. I expected him to just slide eight in but he didn't. He pushed my hair out of my face so that he could look into my eyes.

"This may hurt my love." He said as he kissed my lips softly.

I nodded, reaching down and smiling at the hissing sound he made as I took him into my small hand. I guided him to my entrance showing him that I knew it would hurt but I didn't care.

He pulled me once more into a deep searing kiss as a way to distract me as he plunged into me in one hard, fast thrust.

Our reactions were the exact opposite of each other's. Erik let out this growl like sound and I watched his eyes seems to roll back into his head. While I felt this horrible ripping sort of pain inside of me. There was no way for me to stop the sounds I made as the pain shot through me.

After a couple of seconds I opened my eyes to see Erik watching me intently, I could tell from the look on his face and the way his eyes all of sudden looked teary that he was sorry and I knew deep down that this was Erik and the Phantom was gone. I moved my body slowly trying to adjust to his size and to this new sensation but apparently that was the wrong thing to do because Erik closed his eyes once more and he was clenching his teeth.

"Erik. What, what is it, did I hurt you?"

He laughed at my words as he ran one hand slowly over my body. "No darling you didn't hurt me, quite the opposite actually. You feel amazing and I am trying very hard not to lose control of myself and ravish you." I couldn't help the smile the came at his words. He kissed my forehead softly watching me seriously. "Are you alright?" I nibbled his bottom lip playfully before answering. "Yes I'm ok. The pain was…terrible. But, it's fading now. I think it'll be alright now."

Erik gave me one last searching look before he began moving within me, pulling himself out a bit before pushing back in. At first the pain flared back up but after a few minutes of Erik kissing me and feeling his body against mine as well as his hands caressing me all over the pleasure returned and the pain faded.

Faster than I thought possible the pleasure had built and it was like there had never been any pain at all. I had never felt anything like this before, a culmination of so many emotions; feelings of pleasure and desire and love. Immediately I loved the feeling of hsaving Erik inside of me, it was just anothing thing that brought us closer, it literally made us one, one body and one soul.

I knew that Erik was feeling the same rollercoaster of emotins that I was. When he was kissing me or any part of my body that he could reach he was looking into my eyes and although the desire was still clearly there it had faded to the backround and had been replaced by pure love and adoration.

I had always known that Erik loved me but nothing had proved it as much as the look on his face during those precious moments.

After a while the pressure within us both built and the ppleaure was once more at the forefront of our minds. We were bnoth making all kinds of indescernable sounds as well as moaning and whispering each others name. Then with one final thrust we both seem to hit some sort of peak and after that there was no coherent thought just pure pleasure.

Afterwards we lay there catching our breath for what seemed like hours. Erik was still on top of me, inside of me but he had his head resting on my chest and I had my arms around him stroking his back.

Erik must havbe regained his senses faster then I because he stood up and quickly went into the bedrrom before coming back out with pillows and a blanket. I smiled as he put one of pillows under my head and then laying down besiode me before covering us both with the blanket.

I don't think I have ever felt happier than in that moment with my head on Erik's chest and with his arms around me holding me tight to him.

As I my head cleared and my thoughts returned to me I realized that there were so many things that Erik and I needed to talk about and suddenly I didn't think I could wait. We needed to talk now.

I turned my head so that I was looking up at him. "Erik?"

I felt his chest vibrate as he made a humming sort of sound in response.

"There are a lot of things that we need to talk about."

I couldn't help the butterflies that were awoken in my stomach as the blue and green eyes met mine.

"Yes I suppose your right we do. What would you like to discuss first?"

I pulled away from him slight and motioned for him to turn so that we were fascinfg each other. He did as I asked bit immediately put his arm back around me and drew me to him so that our faces were only inches away.

I smiled at the feeling of his fingertips lazy drawing circles on my back.

"Well, first off and I think most importantly, How are you? How did things go at the hospital, and with your family? We never got to talk abnout it, I hope your not mad at me for bringing them to you."

He began to rub the back of my nbeck as he spoke. "Honestly at first, once the shock wore off I was angry. I told the doctor that I didn't see how that part of myt life was any of your business or why it was even relevant now? The doctor looked at me and said Erik do you love her and I sat there staring at him with what I'm sure was a look of awe on my face. I said are you stupid man, of course I love her. I love her more than I have ever loved anyone in my entire life. I plan on spending the rest of my life with that crazy woman."

I smiled at his words and kissed him softly then looked at him expectantly so that he would continue.

"Then the doctor said: Ok, if that's true and you do indeed plan on spending the rest of your life with Sara then the words "it's none of her business" need to disappear from your vocabulary right this second. I am one hundred percent positive that there is nothing in the world that would make her say those words about you. As for why is it relevant, Erik your past, your parents, your family they are what made you who you are today. Do you think that had that ACCIDENT never happened that you would have still ended up a masked man living under a burnt down opera house? No, I've heard you play; you probably would have ended up as a famous musician in an orchestra somewhere. I am one hundred percent positive that had you kids never have gone to that opera house that day you would have not developed a split personality and you Phantom would never have come into existence. Ok let me make a few key points to you. First of all, had those things never happened you never would have met Sarah. Second of all, and let me make this clear if you don't accept your past and move past it and get rid of the Phantom one of two things is going to happen either she'll leave you or you'll kill her, literally. In that moment I realized that he was right, my mind instantly flashed back to seeing you in that living room. You tried to hide it but I saw and sensed how physically hurt you were. If I didn't talk to my family and let go of the past then there was a very real chance that the next time something triggered that other side of me I could very well kill you. So I talked to my parents, allowed them to explain themselves and eventually although it was hard I forgave them. So to answer that question, yes initially I was angry with you but I no longer am. Thanks to you I have re-connected with the two people who I never thought I would."

I pulled black slightly to be able to look into Erik's eyes. "So… he's really gone?"

Erik smiled brushing the hair out of my face. "Baby, if I wasn't totally sure I wouldn't be here. When I saw you in that living room I swore that I wouldn't come back here again until I was one thousand percent sure that that monster was gone. There was no way that I would put you in danger again."

I was so happy to hear those words. Erik wiped away the tears that began to fall as he looked at me questioningly.

"It's just that… I feel like this is really it, this is the beginning of our life together. We can finally be together and not have to worry about things going so completely wrong."

Erik pulled me to him kissing me deeply for a few minutes before pulling away slightly. "You're right; this is a new beginning for us. And because I know that our life now is going to be perfect I want to make it official." And with that he turned and grabbed something that he had hidden near the fireplace where I couldn't see it, as he turned I saw that in his hand was a little black box and when he opened it inside was the most beautiful engagement ring I had ever seen.

I gasped with this look of complete shock on my face as I looked up at Erik to see if he was serious. He looked completely serious and had tears in his eyes.

"Love, before you moved here I was positive that I would spend the rest of my life down here a crazed murderous monster. But that day that you wondered down here was a blessing and the best thing that could have ever happened to me. You have stuck by me and endured more things than any other person ever would. You love me despite all of the crazy things that you have seen, heard and experienced. I love you so much and would love nothing more than for you to be my wife and to have the honor and pleasure of getting to spend every day of the rest of my life making you happy. Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?"

I didn't say anything for the longest time. I couldn't I was in completer shock, this was the last thing I had expected. Finally, after what probably seemed like hours to Erik I snapped out of it and realized that he was staring at me waiting for me to answer him.

My muscles reacted before my brain did and I was nodding my head before I could even fully comprehend what was happening but my brain finally caught up and I was able to string a few words together through the shock.

"I love you Erik. There is nothing that I want more then to be your wife and spend the rest of my life with you."

Erik gave me the most beautiful smile and in that smile for the first time in the entire time that I had known Erik the only thing I saw displayed on those beautiful features was pure and uninhibited happiness.

He slid the gorgeous ring on my finger before pulling me into another passionate love filled kiss.

Erik made love to me over and over again that night and in the morning we spoke to both of our families telling them the news. They were both extremely happy for us. One year later I married the love of my life and for the next 55 years Erik kept his promise that he made me that night. He spent every day of the rest of his life making me the happiest woman in the world.

We were never bothered by the Phantom again.


End file.
